SquidgeWorld Archive

Season: S1, after The Island

Spoilers: Small ones for TLC, Obsession, and The Island.

Disclaimers: Dar, Tao and the Beastmaster universe are not mine. They belong to AtlantisAlliance and Tribune Entertainment. I'm just borrowing them, becaues they are such interesting characters. Neither do I own the modern legend I completely mangled for the sake of this story.

Notes: A big Thank You to Lynne for the beta. Also, Dar's staff motiff was Goddess's invention. Clever, isn't it.

'Tis the season of preemptions, repeats and holiday specials... This is what happens Beastmaster obsession collides with Christmas on the brain.

A Winter's Mission
by Tiffany

.

"Where are you, Lawz?" Elev asked the night wind. He waited alone for the return of his best friend, who was also his worst worry.

The moon shed no light and the stars glittered in faint imitation of the bonfires scattered around the clearing. Any other time of year, this spot was used as a convenient short cut between the villages. There was always something crossing, human feet or reindeer hooves, so the ground could keep neither plant nor snow. Now, not even a mouse roamed that small muddy field; a blessing for the mouse.

The cursed counted every blessing they could find, and Elev counted himself lucky for the bonfires marking the yearly offerings. Every winter seemed to be colder than the last, the snow a little thicker, and Elev a little older and less able to tolerate either. He huddled as close to the fire as he dared get.

"Come on, Lawz," Elev pleaded with the still empty clearing. "If you're still sleeping?"

Thunder rumbled over Elev's threat before he could finish. The sky, cloudless, flashed with a ribbon of yellow-white light. It slithered aimlessly across the sky, then faded with the thunder. A new rumble and a new light, this one distinctly green. One end hung over the center of the clearing while the other meandered out toward a distant bonfire. It started toward Elev, flickered, then went out.

Elev frowned into the silence. "I know you're tired, but you can do it."

As if encouraged by Elev's words, a ribbon of blue light sprang into existence moments before the thundering could catch up. Anchored by one end over the middle of the clearing, the other end snapped toward a bonfire but stopped just short of reaching it. The body twisted, snake like, around itself as the free end swept around the clearing with more speed than it's predecessor. It faded away just as it finished the circle.

A sharp, short crack rocked the ground. Elev stumbled into the offerings, knocking some of the baskets and their contents into the mud. "You did that on purpose," Elev groused, though he knew he should have been prepared. At the same time Elev was being jostled around, an aurora-like ribbon lit the clearing again. Strong, with deep indigo hues, this one swirled from the center in an outward spiral. It moved so quick it gave the illusion of a dome of light above the clearing, until the ribbon followed itself out to circle above the bonfires. There it remained, a river of light, marking the boundary of Lawz's domain.

Lawz had come home. Evergreen trees stood just steps away from each of the bonfires. Beyond the trees was a warm wood cottage with a stone chimney. Smoke wafted from it, turning into fainter ripples of light that swirled around until it met the brighter cousin. Snow, thick and pristine, covered the ground between the trees and the cottage. It was packed artistically on the cottage's eaves, even on the chimney, despite the smoke-light emanating from it. Elev smiled. Lawz felt up to decorating again.

A shadow emerged from the cottage.

"I was afraid you wouldn't come," Elev said. "Actually, I was afraid you would not be able to come."

"That would have been a blessing," a deep but raspy voice replied. "No blessings for the cursed."

The shadow came within the ring of trees and so bonfire's light.

"Lawz," Elev whispered, shocked. "You look?"

"Cursed?"

"Like a skeleton whose skin has forgotten to rot off."

Lawz was little more than an animated stick figure draped in a thick red robe. The robe could not give the skin color, and the white fur trim of the hood only made his hair appear transparent.

"Oh ho," Lawz snorted, a baritone his body did not look able to make. "You have not lost your wit, old friend."

"No," Elev agreed, "just years."

This earned a faint, sad smile.

"Are you going to let me in this year?"

"Oh, yes." Lawz made a come hither gesture with his painfully thin fingers.

Elev nodded, picked up two baskets from the offerings, and stepped through the boundary between this world and Lawz's. His clothes, their color lost with age, brightened into a deep green. The mends and patches, done for utility only, turned into golds and glossy blacks, giving his clothing a decorative air. Even at his most depressed, Lawz craved color.

"Here." Elev shoved the basket of breads and sweet cakes up at Lawz. Lawz, though short, was easily twice again Elev's height. He hunched a little to take the basket, but did not straighten up again. "Eat," Elev ordered.

Lawz looked at the basket but made no move to comply.

Elev sighed. "The Villages went through a lot of trouble to bring food for you."

"So I won't feed on them."

Elev didn't deny the statement. "At least take the offerings in. There's no need to worry them more."

After a moment, Lawz sighed and nodded. The baskets and offerings surrounding the bonfires shimmered, then disappeared.

Satisfied, Elev reached up, took Lawz by the arm, and steered him back toward the cottage.

"Are you going to try to abstain again this year?" Elev let neither hope nor suggestion color his tone.

"So perhaps next year I'll become skin?" Lawz said, holding up his free arm, letting the robe flap. "Or be a skeleton in truth? Death cannot cure this curse, Elev. I'd still be left to haunt and hunger."

@---->

"Have you eaten yet?" Dar asked as he stretched in the morning sunshine.

"No." Tao barely glanced up from his project. "Thought I'd get an early start before the trouble makers woke up."

Kodo and Podo, hearing one of their new nicknames, unwound themselves from Dar's feet and scampered to Tao's.

"Hey!" Tao jerked from their too sharp nails and dropped the gourd he had braced between his knees. "No tickling the man with the burning stick in his hands."

"They want to help."

"They can help by leaving my feet alone." Tao adjusted the gourd between his knees, but dropped the smoking stick. He jerked his knees away from the hot poker and lost hold of the gourd again. Tao put the stick back into the small fire and patted the ground where it had fallen to be sure nothing caught. As he did this, Kodo and Podo inspected the gourd. They tried to climb onto it but succeeded only in rolling it, and themselves, out of Tao's immediate reach.

Dar smiled at the antics of his friends, old and new, alike.

"I'll never get a water flask made if they keep 'helping'," Tao groused.

"You have more," Dar reminded him, nodding toward the netful of gourds on Dar's side of the camp. He had humored Tao by searching for the lot of them. They had been gone from Sanctuary for a day and a half now, not so much because the gourds were hard to find, but because Tao was very picky about the size and shape his flasks should be. They eventually collected a handful that pleased Tao. Dar had teased him about needing so much to drink when Tao picked up his third prize, "for practice".

Now, as Dar watched the ferrets delight in their new, messy toy - Tao hadn't finished hollowing it out yet - Dar was glad Tao had planned ahead. Somehow, though, Dar doubted Tao had included Kodo and Podo under the heading of "practice".

"Would you hand me one?" Tao asked as he stretched his legs.

Dar gave Tao another gourd, along with a couple of apples for breakfast. Tao mumbled a thanks between biting into the fruit and positioning the gourd for opening. Dar took a seat opposite the small fire and watched both Tao and the ferrets in their amusing escapades.

"Who taught you to do this?" Dar asked after a moment of watching Tao make faces at the gourd.

"Taught me which?" Tao put his apple down to better use both hands. "Make flasks or hollow gourds?"

"Make flasks."

"No one."

"Have you ever made a water flask before?" Dar was about to ask if anyone had taught him how to hollow gourds, as Tao seemed to be having a difficult time with this one. But he had seen Tao work with them before and knew he could use his hands well to shape what he wished from them. After the initial opening.

"No." Tao knocked his forgotten apple away as he tried to pry the cut circle out.

"Then how do you know you are doing it right?"

"I won't, until I'm done." Opening succeeded, Tao searched for his missing breakfast. He found only the uneaten apple and started on that. "If it holds water, I did it right. If it leaks," Tao shrugged, "I'll use it to water the plants."

"Wouldn't it be easier to wait until someone teaches you how to make one?"

"Dar, if everybody waited until somebody taught them how to make something, nothing would get done. Nothing would get invented. Someone has to do it first, before anyone taught them. Why, can you imagine if the first man waited for someone to show him how to make clothes?" Tao pulled on his shirt for illustration. "We'd all be naked right now." Eyeing Dar's bare minimum of attire, added, "Well, nakeder."

From their new toy, the ferrets chittered, as if in laughter.

"There, see? Even they agree with me." Tao gave the ferrets a fond smile. "But to answer your question, yes it might be easier, but I don't know anybody to teach me. Do you know how to make a water flask?"

"No. But you won't need one if we stay near Sanctuary."

"Like now?"

Dar pointed behind him. "Stream is that way."

Tao grunted acknowledgment and went back to his flask making. The ferrets, tiring of their game, climbed Tao's legs to investigate his.

"If Kodo and Podo keep 'helping'," Dar started, "I suppose we could always trade someone for a flask." He laughed as Podo tried to reach inside the gourd, and Kodo got in the way of Tao's hand.

"Come on," Tao sighed in frustration. "You already took one from me. This one is not for you."

A high pitched screech caused both men to look up. Sharak circled above the trees. Satisfied he had Dar's attention, the eagle communicated an unusual sighting. For a moment, Dar was blind to his immediate surroundings while he saw, from a great height, eight antlered creatures tethered to a box supported by curly tree bark. A boy wearing a pointed hat paced beside the line of animals. The image circled, showing trees and shrubs and other animals, but no sign of a parent or where the animals had come from.

Dar thanked Sharak for his concern and cut the connection. He blinked as sight with his own eyes returned.

"What did Sharak say?" Tao asked.

"There is a boy in the forest."

"Lost?"

"It looked like it." Dar communicated with Kodo and Podo, they hurried into their carry sack. Dar slung the strap over his head and shoulder.

Tao stood and quickly stamped out the fire. He picked up the net full of gourds, then put them down in favor of speed. He had trouble keeping up with Dar at the best of times. "Where?"

Dar oriented himself with the vision Sharak shared with him. "This way."

@---->

The "boy" was not a child but a boy-sized man. His clothes were well mended and a much faded brown. The pointed hat covered greying hair. Un-boy-like facial hair shifted with each expression.

When Dar found him, the expression was an irritated scowl. "Reindeer have a superb sense of direction, he says," the man muttered as he reached the last of the line of animals. He turned smartly and continued his pacing. "Reindeer never get lost, he says. Right, which is why we're in the middle of the forest in the middle of who-knows-where, with nobody in sight." He reached the lead of the team and stopped to address them. "So why did you decide to stop? To sight see?"

"He says this is where he is supposed to be," Dar said helpfully.

The man spun around at the unexpected voice. He looked up at Dar, then breathed a sigh of relief. "It's not nice to sneak up on people, you know."

"I wasn't sneaking." Tao, slightly winded, came to stand next to him. There was no possible way Tao could have been mistaken for sneaking. "We came to help. We thought?" Dar saw Tao's amused look at the sight of small man and thought better of saying he thought he came to find a lost boy. "We thought you were lost."

"I was. I am. But they're not." The words 'I hope', though unspoken, were clearly heard. "Otherwise I'd never get home."

"They're reindeer, right?" Tao asked. He stepped closer to the animals for a better look.

"Of course," the man said in a tone that implied every child knew what they were

"I've heard of them," Tao said, "but I've never seen one before."

The reindeer stood slightly shorter than a horse, but seemed broader built. Long, curly fur seemed to cover anything that was not hoof or antler. The team snuffled, snorted, and talked to each other, but paid little mind to their human company.

"What's this?" Tao patted the box contraption the reindeer were tethered to.

"It's a sleigh. Don't tell me you've never seen one of those, either?"

"Never even heard of one," Tao admitted as he inspected it. The outside was bright red, the inside a dark green. The curly tree bark turned out to be well crafted wood, black and very dirty. "These struts look like they would be good for traveling through mud, like they'd slide rather than sink."

"And snow," the man supplied. "They work best on snow."

"Doesn't snow much here," Tao commented. "Isn't it hard on the reindeer, pulling it over roots and rocks?"

"Nah, they know how to avoid that."

Tao gave him an 'if you say so' look and returned to Dar's side.

The man seemed to take that as his que for introductions. He took off his hat and put on a smile. "I'm Elev."

Dar nodded. "I'm called Dar. This is Tao."

"Yes."

"Yes?" Tao echoed at Elev's matter-of-fact reply.

"I know who you are. I was looking for you. Well, I was lost," he corrected himself. "But I came here for you before I got lost. Bit warm, isn't it?"

"Not really," Tao muttered.

"It isn't?" Elev fanned himself with his hat.

"Why were you looking for us?" Dar asked, undeterred by Elev's change in subject.

"Yes, of course you'd ask," Elev muttered. He put his hat under his arm. "My friend - he's not here - needs your help."

"Why?" Tao asked as Dar said, "What kind of help?"

"He's cursed." Elev appeared about to say more when his eyes widened. He backed up into lead reindeer's front legs, forcing it to sidestep and bump it's neighbor. "Aah, don't move," Elev advised, shakily. "Behind you?"

Tao froze. Dar turned and smiled at the tiger. "This is Ruh," he said, turning back toward Elev. Tao visibly relaxed. "He's a friend."

"A friend," Elev repeated. "He keeps company with wild animals. Lawz didn't tell me they kept company with animals," he complained to reindeer he bumped. The creature snorted pointedly. "Yes, well, you are hardly wild." Elev patted it's legs, calming himself more than the placid reindeer.

"You don't have to fear him," Dar said. "Ruh was only checking to see if you were a friend."

Elev frowned. Watching Ruh, he muttered, "Would like to be. Might not be, after you've met Lawz."

"Is this Lawz a bad man?"

"Bad?" Elev giggled as if Dar had made a joke. He tore his gaze from Ruh to look up at Dar and Tao. "Not nice, naughty, all of these. But not on purpose. He's cursed, you see."

"I don't see," Tao said. "Cursed how?"

"And how can we help?"

"Long, long story. I could tell you about it on the way." Elev put his pointy hat on and looked up expectantly. When nobody moved, not even the reindeer, Elev sighed. "Immortality is part of it."

Dar nodded. Sharak was afflicted with that particular malady.

"Knowledge of good hearts," Elev continued, with a nod each at Dar and Tao. "Lawz has a good heart, too, or this would not be such a curse. He hungers, you see."

"Hungers for what?" Tao asked, suspicious of anything resembling irrational hunger. In all too recent days, Tao had come close to being a tiger's meal, Dar had come even closer to being eaten by a spiderwitch, and they both narrowly escaped becoming the main course to bird-men creatures.

"You, me," Elev said with false brightness and a shrug. "He doesn't want this hunger to be. That's why he sent me to find you, to bring you back to help abate it."

@---->

"You're not thinking of going with him?" Tao spoke softly, although Elev had given them space to discuss matters. "It sounds like this Lawz person wants to eat us."

"It sounds like he wants us to help stop this hunger curse."

"Yes. By eating us!"

Dar smiled and shook his head. "Don't be silly, Tao."

"Who's being silly?" Tao glanced at Ruh. "For all we know, he could be a man eating tiger. No offense Ruh. I mean, 'lawz' could be 'claws' from someone with a tiger mouth."

Dar chuckled. With a shake of his head, he left Tao to approach Elev and the reindeer.

"I'm serious!" Tao sighed and shook his head unhappily. "Sometimes I think his name is Ruh," Tao grumbled to Ruh. "Headstrong." Ruh snorted as if in agreement.

"Where is this Lawz?" Dar asked.

"North," Elev answered promptly. "Far away."

"Then we should get started."

"You'll help?" Elev asked, surprised.

Dar glanced over to see Tao approaching, nodding his unhappy agreement. "We'll help. We should go."

Elev used the curve of the strut as a ladder to climb into the sleigh. He sat on a bench nearly camouflaged by it's paint and patted it. "Come on."

Dar and Tao exchanged looks.

"You wouldn't want to walk it," Elev assured them. "We wouldn't get there until next winter. Lawz needs your help today."

"Or starve," Tao muttered to Dar, who ignored the comment.

Dar climbed into the sleigh, Tao close behind him.

"Wait, Dar, our camp, my gourds. No, nevermind," Tao answered himself as he sat beside Dar. "We'll get them when we get back." If they got back. Besides, Tao thought, what would he do with them, use them to beam a man-eating Lawz?

"All set?" Elev asked.

A cry from above caught Dar and Tao's attention, both looked skyward. Elev looked up, frowned at himself, then looked at Dar. "What is it?"

"Sharak."

"He's a friend," Tao supplied.

"Another friend," Elev muttered. "Is he coming? The tiger?"

Dar smiled at him. "They'll follow."

"All right," Elev said doubtfully. "Tell them to keep up. Here we go."

There were no reigns for Elev to snap at the reindeer or pull on. He just whistled once, and the reindeer started running. Very fast.

Elev wasn't the least bit jostled. Dar was pushed back, but he quickly gained his balance. Tao gripped the bench with both hands.

The reindeer picked up speed from very fast to very, very, very fast. The wind, plucking at their clothes and hair and Elev's hat - he held it to his head with a firm hand - rushed past with a steady sh-ing sound. The reindeer left the 'very's, passed the 'extremely's and moved somewhere into the realm of 'impossibly' fast. The sh-ing deepened into a thrumming swoosh. Suddenly the wind died down to a faint breeze. Elev let go of his hat.

"Aren't you worried we'll crash into something?" Tao asked when he could finally find his voice.

"Nah. The reindeer don't make a habit of colliding with things."

Dar and Tao exchanged looks. They could see the sleigh and the tails of the reindeer without problem. But the world outside was reduced to streaks of color - greens and browns on the sides and blues and greys above - with no shape or distinction.

"At this speed," Tao gulped and looked away from the sides, "how can they tell?"

"They have very good sight," Elev answered, as if it should be obvious.

"Sight, right," Tao murmured, wincing at the world streaking outside. "What about getting snagged on roots, or bushes, or something? How can you tell they're coming up?" Tao eyed the edge of the sleigh, made to look over it.

"Keep everything inside!" Elev shouted.

Tao jerked back, bumping into Dar. He gave Elev a pale look.

"Sorry," Elev muttered, looking relieved, "I should have warned you. It's dangerous to stick anything outside while we're going this fast." Elev pulled off his hat and scratched his head. "And to answer your question, anything that can snag the sleigh will snag reindeer antler and feet, and they don't like getting snagged, so I don't worry about it." As if to emphasize this, Elev crossed his arms and sat back.

Tao's look said he did worry about it. But he did little more than nod, and hold tightly to the bench.

Dar, too, was uneasy with the situation. "No creature runs this fast," he said softly.

"Reindeer do." Elev nodded at the team before them. Then grudgingly added, "When Lawz is in a hurry."

"Magic? Sorcery?"

Attention caught, Tao sat up and leaned forward a bit to look around Dar.

"Lawz has some magic, yes. Not as much these days as in the early years," Elev lamented.

"Is this magic his curse?" Tao asked, "Or the reason he was cursed?"

"Yes," Elev said.

"Yes, which?"

"Lawz couldn't wield it before, but coveted it." Elev frowned at the reindeer team. "Now that he is cursed to wield it, Lawz would gladly give it up."

"Why?" Tao asked, voicing questions Dar had as well. "What did Lawz do? Did he make a god angry?"

Elev snorted. "A god? No. Though I'm sure sorcerers fancy themselves gods."

"Sorcerers?" Tao and Dar exchanged uneasy glances. Tao knew sorcerers had little regard for concepts such as good and evil. Dar tended to think of them as evil. It was a sorceress, after all, who aided the Terrons and kept him from his love.

"D..did he want to be a sorcerer?" Tao asked, not sure he wanted to hear the answer.

"Only Lawz can answer that."

"If he wants our help," Dar said softly, "we need to know how he got into trouble."

Elev thought a minute. "I guess it doesn't really matter, at this point," he sighed. He straightened up, put his hat on decisively. "Lawz has always been very smart, very quick to learn things, and very good at making things. But he also had an ego that could span all eight of The Villages and the forests besides. But he was a good man," Elev was quick to add. "'Least, he had a good heart. Good intentions. It's just that he had more self confidence than any man should ever possess.

"One day a very old man came to The Villages. He was so old it looked like his skin was going to fall off right where he stood. Lawz got it into his head that the old man was a sorcerer. Then Lawz decided he could solve all the world's problems, or at least those of The Villages, if he learned magic. There had been a crop blight that went on for several years, and Lawz was angry that he couldn't figure out how to cure it. Lawz was hardly a man yet, but it hurt him to see so many go hungry. So Lawz asked the old man to teach him magic. The old man was very amused as he told Lawz no. Lawz accepted this, after a handful denials, and told the old man he would find someone else to teach him. The old man said no one else would. Lawz decided if no one would teach him, he would learn magic on his own.

"The old man didn't like that. He sounded outraged that a mere human, not even a man, could possibly believe himself capable of such powers. And angry that a boy thought he could learn magic on his own without even the training a sorcerer goes through in a lifetime. That sorcerer looked very, very old.

"To punish Lawz's impudence, he gave Lawz what he wanted, and then some. He gave Lawz magic, but most of it's just useless show. He cursed Lawz to know hunger only The Villages could ease. As if that wasn't enough, he gave Lawz only the winters to spend with his family and people. And to feed. The rest of the time he would go away somewhere, so Lawz could contemplate how he would never be able to use the magic to uncurse himself or do the good he had really wanted to do."

A moment of silence followed.

Tao said quietly, "Sounds like a horrible curse."

"Yes," Elev agreed, speaking just as softly. "And worse because Lawz's curse is a curse for all The Villages. He can't escape it. We can't escape it."

@---->

White and grey blended into the shapeless colors streaking by, muting them. Elev put his hand on his hat as the swoosh became a louder shh, and the wind once again touched them. The wind was cold and slightly damp.

Tao shivered and huddled in on himself. "Should have warned us we'd need sweaters," he groused.

"Why do you think I thought it was so warm earlier?" Elev had to shout to be heard over the wind. Beside him, even Dar's flesh goosebumped. "Don't worry, Lawz keeps his cabin warm."

As the reindeer continued to slow, they could make out individual trees. Deciduous, most of them. Those that were not evergreen were barebranched and drooping under the weight of snow. The ground was mostly snow covered, with an occasional patch of mud or rock to give it color. The sky was a white-grey.

The reindeer slowed to a leisurely trot just before they entered a village. The wind died down to a breeze, albeit frigid, with bits of snow lazily wafting in it.

"Almost there," Elev assured them. He grinned. "This is my home, Ives, the largest of the eight villages."

Huts mixed freely with sturdier cottages, with a few stone layered buildings added for variety. There were many small horses with thick coats, and even more reindeer, most of them shorter than the team pulling Lawz's sleigh. There were many people doing their business, dressed in thick or layered clothing. Most stopped to watch the sleigh pass, some with expressions of curiosity, some with sadness or fear.

They left the village and passed a few travelers heading toward town. Shoes and hooves were mud slogged. One man worked to get his travois over a dip. The reindeer and sleigh, by comparison, traveled with equal ease over snow and through mud.

Finally the reindeer slowed to a walk. Ahead was a curving line of ash and charcoal. Steps beyond those a circle of tall trees. Beyond that, a cottage stood in the snow, smoke coming from the stone chimney. The smoke, faintly blue, seemed to glow as it drifted toward the trees. Above, and just outside the ring of trees, was a shimmering ribbon of blue light, visible despite the daylight. Dar and Tao both craned their necks to watch the twisting light as they passed beneath it.

"We're here," Elev said needlessly as the sleigh came to a halt.

"Elev?" Tao started, but lost any further words in his surprise.

Elev looked at his amazed guests, then down at himself. He grinned. "What do you think?" He held up his arms to better show off his new look. Elev's clothes had changed color to a green nearly matching the sleigh's interior. Blacks and golds made the mends and patches appear almost royal.

"Even your hair changed color," Tao said, awed.

Elev snorted. "Lawz thinks it's a gift. Personally, I like the grey better than brown."

"Tao."

"What?" Tao noticed Dar staring at him. "What?" he asked again, and looked down at himself. "Oh?"

Tao's shirt had turned a deep blue. His trousers became as dark a grey as his shirt had been. His belts and ties turned a dark, glittering silver.

"How?" Tao managed, speechless.

"Lawz is a show off." Elev grinned. "And no one comes in untouched." He motioned at Dar.

Dar's accouterments went from tan to a red roan which nearly matched the reindeer's fur. The ties and edgings were in a flat gold. Dar's staff remained white, but the etchings had taken on shifting hues of red, blue, and green.

One of the reindeer snorted loudly. Their tails swatted the air impatiently. "Soon, soon," Elev mumbled at them and started to get out of the sleigh. Dar and Tao followed.

"Dar?" Tao rubbed his chilled arms. "Ruh and Sharak couldn't possibly keep up with us. Are they still trying?"

Dar looked skyward, his eyes took on a far away look. Moments later, he blinked against the soft snow. "No. Sharak said it looked like we disappeared. He wasn't too happy I took this long to try to contact him."

"But you can still communicate with him?"

"Yes. It's faint though." Dar looked worried. "I think we're very far from the Mydlands."

"Unless this is all an illusion."

"The colors are an illusion," Elev said, startling Tao. To Dar, he added, "I told you it would take a very long time to walk. Come on, Lawz is waiting."

Dar and Tao followed the small man to the cottage. The front door opened even before they mounted the porch. Elev paused on the porch just long enough to stomp the snow off before walking in. Dar and Tao followed suit.

"Ah, warm," Tao murmured appreciatively. The interior was well lit and well heated, and smelled of fresh sweet bread.

"Lawz, I'm back!" Elev hollered without warning. Crackling from the fireplace was his only answer. Elev sighed and shook his head. "Sorry for his rudeness. Lawz doesn't get visitors often. I think he's a little nervous."

"I understand," Tao said, feeling more than a little nervous himself.

"Well, at least he's added furniture for company." Elev nodded approvingly at the four chairs set around a low table close to the fireplace. On the table were baskets of food: bread, cheese, fruit and nuts mixed in colorful arrays. "Anyway, make yourself comfortable. You are welcome to the food, if you're hungry. If you'll excuse me, I have to go tend to the reindeer. They won't wait for Lawz to remember himself."

Elev started back toward the door, which opened before he had quite reached it. He paused, looked back at them. "I don't suppose I could get one of you to help me unharness them? Ash is the only one who will kneel for me?"

Dar volunteered. He handed the carry sack to Tao. Tao took the pouch reluctantly. He didn't like the idea of being left alone in this strange place where colors changed on a whim and doors opened of their own accord. But Dar wasn't taking his hints. Maybe he wanted to talk to the reindeer. Dar followed Elev out, and the door closed on their heels with a deep thud.

The ferrets chose that moment to pop their heads out of the carry sack and squeal for attention. "Don't worry, he'll be back," Tao assured them. Then, under his breath, added, "Soon, I hope." One of the ferrets put a paw on the lip of the sack, as if to say 'out'. Tao set the sack down on the rug and let the ferrets loose. They squirmed out of their carry sack and started nosing around.

With little left to do until Dar and Elev returned, or Lawz made his appearance, Tao followed their lead. The walls of the cottage were a deep red. The doors were a green a few shades lighter than Elev's clothes. The rugs covering the floor were a mix of pine green and night blue. The chimney stones were white; somehow the soot from the fire did not mar them. The chairs and table were all sturdy, well made, and nearly as white as the chimney.

The sweet bread smell reminded Tao he hadn't had much to eat that day, just two apples, neither of which he'd finished. He chose a couple of breadsticks from the baskets to help curb the rumbling in his stomach. They were neither fresh nor sweet, but soft and good tasting nonetheless.

"Elev was to bring two."

The deep voice startled Tao. He jumped and spun guiltily to face the newcomer. A figure encased in a red robe with white fur trim stood near one of the doors. Tao hadn't heard it open.

"I? Uh, he did. They're taking care of the reindeer."

"Good. You are Tao."

"Yes. Are you Lawz?"

"Yes." Lawz joined Tao by the fire. He, or the hood of his robe, just reached Tao's nose.

"I hope it's warm in the stables," Tao started, needing some conversation. "Dar is hardly dressed for snow."

"The stables are heated, yes," Lawz said without turning from the fire. Tao had the irritating feeling he was talking to an animated robe. "I keep everything inside warm."

"Not warm enough," Tao commented. Lawz turned his head toward Tao. Even though Tao could not see his face, he knew a puzzled expression when he saw one. Tao gestured vaguely at Lawz's attire. "You dress as if for the outdoors."

Loose sleeves fell back to reveal painfully thin hands, which shook as Lawz pushed the hood off of his head. Clearly uncomfortable, he inched closer to the fire, putting his robe in peril of being singed.

Lawz was pale. His skin looked as if it were trying to learn something from the snow. It was tight, as if there was nothing between the skin and bone. The only part that had color or looked soft was the portion sunken under his eyes. Lawz's eyes were brown, sad and tired. They refused to rest long on anything other than the fire. His hair fell limply to his shoulders and had the same lack of color and lustre as his skin. Lawz had hair on his chin, short, and just as determined to disappear as the rest him seemed to be.

Tao grimaced in sympathy.

"Elev warned us you were, uh, suffering from an, uh, a hunger curse," Tao stammered.

Lawz looked startled. "He did?"

"We asked," Tao defended. "H..how long has it been since you've eaten a good meal?" Tao asked, stammering as he did when he was nervous or uncertain of the wisdom of speaking.

Lawz gestured at the baskets on the table. "When Elev is here, I never get a rest from a good meal." He chose a piece of cheese from one basket and munched.

"Yes, but that's just the winter, Elev said. How about the rest of the year. How much do you eat nutritionally?"

"Are you a healer?" Lawz asked, bemused by the questions.

Tao gave a bashful smile. "I've learned many of the healing arts from my elders, and from people I've encountered in my travels."

"I've had food," Lawz said softly. "But the last time I've had the kind of? nutrition I need was the winter before last."

"Impossible. If you haven't eaten for two winters you would be dead." Tao winced, added, "Though, uh, you look like it's been two winters?"

Lawz finished his cheese and picked up a bread stick. "Let's just say I have? special dietary needs."

@---->

With a little prodding from Elev, Lawz remembered his manners and showed his visitors around. The cottage was much larger on the inside than the outside would have it seem. The main room was small and cozy. One door led to a small hallway which branched into two rooms. Each had pallets of blankets and furs and a small fireplace of their own, though only the one chimney was seen outside. Another door led to a cooking and storage area, also with it's own fireplace. It was packed with so many baskets of food it was difficult to tell where the walls were.

The third door from the main room led to a well stocked work room, such as might be used by a carpenter or artist. A bench and work table lined opposing walls. One was set low to the ground, as if made for a child, or an Elev-sized man. The other was set at a height Tao might be comfortable with. A fireplace was set into the wall between the workbenches. The fire adequately lit and warmed the room, despite being the only source of light.

"This is impressive," Tao said, wandering the room while Dar looked on from the doorway. "You have an amazing variety of tools. I've never seen many of these." The ends of the tables were piled with tools of every size and shape, made of wood and stone and string. Tao longed to inspect each and learn their purpose.

"This was my pride and joy," Lawz said. "And Elev's. Mostly Elev's. He used to work here all the time, until?" His voice trailed off. He was very uncomfortable speaking of that which he wanted help with.

Tao glanced back at Dar to see if he had any ideas. Dar just shrugged. So Tao fell back on one of the first things he had learned in the healing arts; make the patient as comfortable as possible. In this case, he tried with a change in subject.

"What happened?" On the walls hung bags and jars. There were empty spaces where more items should be. Tao noticed one pile on the floor by the fire which seemed to be broken jars and broken tools.

"Me. I went a little? mad one winter." At Tao's startled look, Lawz quickly assured him, "Oh, don't worry. I've recovered. I've even started to rebuild. See, I've started with some useful items." He pointed to a pile of gourds with straps sitting on the taller work table. "For Elev to trade," he added.

Tao picked one up. "This one looks just like the flask I lost." He held it up for Dar to see. There was a neat line of them on the table. "So many."

"No one wants to go thirsty," Lawz said. "Besides, normal flasks, those are easy to create. Doing a bunch let me stretch my muscles, so to speak."

Tao set down the flask that looked so much like the one stolen from him, and picked up another which sat outside the line. This one had a red stripe painted around the mouth. "I've never seen them decorated before."

"Oh ho, that's not decoration." Lawz wore a very small smile, but he sounded very amused. "That's so I can tell them apart."

"You keep something other than water in this one?" It didn't feel filled.

"In a manner of speaking. The red means hot. For water, tea, broth or the like."

"Hot water ruins the gourd before long," Tao said. "The heat warps it. And the water, tea, whatever, gets cold and gets a funny taste."

"Not with this one. I've designed it," pride deepened Lawz's voice, "so that anything poured out of the flask remains the same temperature as when it was poured into the flask. Well, there is some cooling, of course," Lawz corrected himself, "but it is very gradual."

Dar swallowed a laugh at Tao's excitement over such a simple seeming invention.

"If you were going on a trip, you could have tea without having to stop." Tao's face lit up at the idea. "Building a fire, and drawing water, that takes time. And sometimes you are not where it is either safe or wise to have a fire." Tao turned the flask around in his hands, trying to determine an obvious difference, aside from the red stripe. "And you could keep hot teas and medicines that must be hot to be most effective without worrying about rewarming them or continually making fresh batches. You could?"

Lawz's chuckle was a deep rumble that jiggled his robe. "I see you are one who would appreciate such things. You keep it. And take one of the cold flasks, too."

"No, I can't take?"

"Please," Lawz broke in over Tao's protest. "A gift. Or a thank you, for coming?"

"But we haven't done anything yet."

Lawz's minuscule smile disappeared. "You will." Then, with a mutter about still being hungry, he excused himself from the workroom.

"He looks terrible, Dar," Tao said as soon as he was sure Lawz was out of ear shot. "Although he is always eating, Lawz looks like he hasn't eaten in years, as if the food never reaches him."

"Elev said he was cursed to feel the hunger of the villagers."

"And that only the villages could feed him," Tao finished, nodding. "I wonder why they don't?"

"We should talk to them. Ask."

"Yes. I think I might have something to help in the mean time." Tao poked at the pockets of his utility belt. "There are herbs that help stimulate appetite. And teas to aid digestion and help to get the strength up. But they're only temporary measures. He needs something more permanent than just what he gets when he visits in the winter. Stocking up like a bear before hibernation can't be doing him any good."

"You do your teas. I'll talk to the villagers." They started toward the main room.

Tao frowned. That sleigh ride seemed very quick, even through the village. And Elev said there were eight of them. "Do you remember how to get there?"

"One of the reindeer said he wanted to visit, but didn't want to wander off and worry Lawz. I'll ask him to show me."

"You understand him?" Lawz stood by the fireplace, a surprised look on his face.

Elev, sitting on the lowest of the chairs, snorted. "He has a tiger for a friend."

"That is Dar's gift," Tao explained. "He can communicate with the animals."

"Gift," Lawz echoed softly. The curiosity dimmed to despair. He turned his back on them to face the fire. "Curses are gifts that demand too much of you."

Dar and Tao exchanged looks at this turn of phrase. Was it wisdom or warning?

After a moment of uncomfortable silence, Elev jumped up. "Well, if you want to see The Villages, I'll take you. The reindeer need their rest, they have another long trip tomorrow."

"No." Elev gave his friend a puzzled look at the interruption. Lawz sighed. "For most the year, they are my only company. I forget they have lives, family, that don't include me." Elev started to protest. Lawz waved him to silence. "If any of the reindeer wish to leave, let them."

Elev made an unhappy noise. "All right. But I'll still show you around," he said to Dar. "But first you're going to need something warmer to wear."

@---->

"Elev has told you of my curse?" Lawz adjusted baskets in the kitchen/pantry to give Tao room to work. "And you came anyway?"

"It is Dar's way to help people."

"And you?"

"I do what I can." The ferrets chose that moment to scamper along a table edge to look into the baskets Lawz was trying repack in a more efficient manner. Tao grinned apologetically. "And I can rescue you from them. Come on, you rug rats." Tao disengaged them from the basket and Lawz's sleeve. He took them back to his seat by a taller work table. "Do you mind?" Tao gestured at the newly replaced food baskets.

Lawz made a help yourself gesture. "There's plenty."

Tao chose a couple of small winter berries and settled the ferrets and their treat on his lap.

Tao went about preparing the ingredients for the teas he wanted to make for Lawz. "The Villages, why don't they help? Elev said they were the only ones who could properly feed you?"

Without looking in Tao's direction, Lawz moved a chair next to the fireplace. He was silent for so long, Tao thought he wasn't going to answer.

"They have fed me before." When Lawz finally spoke, his voice was so low it was almost drowned by the crackling of the fire. "But I don't want their help."

"Why? If they help you, keep you healthy, certainly if?"

"They are afraid of me," Lawz cut in. "I'm tired of their fear."

Lawz sat with hunched shoulders and bowed head. His ill-fitting robe could not conceal his despair. On Tao's lap, one of the ferrets looked up, sniffed the air in Lawz's direction, and made a querying noise. Not even the furballs took Lawz for a threat.

Tao's brows creased together with his confusion. "I don't understand."

The reply startled Lawz to turning toward Tao. Lawz studied him with a look Tao couldn't decipher. "It doesn't matter," Lawz said, finally. "Just accept that I won't take from them. Not anymore."

Tao put a couple pinches worth of dried leaves into the flask with the red stripe, then set it aside to wait for the water to boil.

"This madness you spoke of. Was if from the hunger?"

"In a manner of speaking, yes." Lawz edged closer to the fire.

"Did it come on sudden or it part of the curse?"

"Sudden." Lawz nodded to himself. "Strangers came to The Villages the autumn before last. They wore strange clothing: black, with bones sewn on."

Tao paused his ministrations and shuddered. "Terrons."

The reaction got Lawz's attention. He broke his gaze away from the fire to look at Tao. "You've heard of them?"

"We've? met, a few times." Tao swallowed. "Nasty people."

"Yes, nasty people." Lawz let his gaze wonder back to the fire. "They said they were lost. They acted like they owned The Villages, everything, everyone. They were only three, but?"

"They are brutal, arrogant parasites," Tao said firmly. He returned to his preparations so he wouldn't have to look at Lawz's expressive face. He also didn't want to think of Terrons and was sorry he had asked.

"The last time The Villages had cause to fight was before my parents were born," Lawz said.

"You've known peace for a very long time. The Terrons must have been a shock."

"Yes. A shock." Lawz sighed. "Winter came, and so did I. When I found out, I? took care of them."

"You were lucky. If those Terrons had had their way, they would have wreaked havoc on The Villages. Even luckier they were lost. King Zad might have tried to find them."

"We weren't lucky."

@---->

"He doesn't mind if you ride," Dar told Elev.

"Ash?" Elev looked back at the reindeer in question, and snorted. "No thanks. Last time I rode him, Ash dumped me in the mud." Ash huffed, but continued ambling just behind the two men. "'Sides, he ought to be resting. We'll be going out again in the morning, and Lawz's rush takes a lot out of the team."

"Ash says he likes running faster than other animals."

"He would."

"Where are you going tomorrow?" Dar asked as he readjusted the rope of the robe Lawz lent him. The garment was made for a man smaller and broader than Dar. The white edged hem was in no danger of trailing in the mud; it left his boots exposed and allowed for a draft across his shins. The fabric puffed out at odd spots across his shoulders and arms, despite the straps of his staff sheaf holding it down. While Dar felt funny wearing the thing, he did have to admit the robe was warm. And the deep red color remained even after they left the light-ribbon boundary of Lawz's home.

Elev's clothes had returned to their faded brown, and his hair to its dark grey. He shifted his hat to better protect his ears. "I have others to pick up for Lawz."

"Others? To try to help Lawz?"

"Yes." Elev kept his eyes on the snow covered ground. "You're? visit won't last that long. Lawz will want to try another."

"You don't think we can help him?"

"You'll help him. A little." Elev frowned at his feet. "He only has until the solstice to get what he needs. Then he'll have to wait and try again next winter. The winter solstice is only two days away, so Ash will get to do all the high speed running he wants. Won't you?" This last was directed at the reindeer, who huffed his pleased agreement.

Villagers greeted Elev with a wave or a nod, eyed Dar with curiosity but little apprehension, and paid no mind at all to a reindeer ambling off on his own. Lawz, shorter even than Tao, was still taller than most of the people Dar saw. A good number of the villagers, clearly adults, were as child-sized as Elev.

"You came in on the sleigh," a voice behind them accused.

Dar turned to see a man standing just outside the door of a hut. He was one of the taller villagers, and, judging by his expression, one of the unhappier ones. He squinted disapprovingly up at Dar.

"My friend and I came in earlier," Dar agreed. "Lawz asked for our help."

"Outsiders," the man grumbled. He looked at Elev and demanded, "Doesn't he remember what happened the last time outsiders came?"

"Lawz has brought in help before?" Dar asked.

"Not before this winter," Elev answered. "The outsiders Sana speaks of were not nice men."

Sana snorted and crossed his arms. "Now that's an understatement if I've ever heard one."

"Lawz? forced them to help him." Sana made a noise at this, but let Elev finish his story. "It was probably the only good thing they've ever done in their lives. But even that went wrong."

"Wrong?"

"Lawz went crazy," Sana said, enunciating the words as if they were each a sentence of their own.

Startled, Dar looked down at Elev. Elev was glaring at Sana. Sana returned the glare with eyes full of accusation.

Sana turned his gaze to Dar. "Have they told you what it is you are supposed to help?"

"Sana, don't," Elev pleaded quietly.

"His hunger curse," Dar answered, confused by the tension between the two men. "Elev said the villagers could help. I was wondering why they don't."

"We have!" Sana stood straighter, his arms tightened across his chest. "And it's not just his curse. It's our curse. All of The Villages."

"He didn't mean it, Sana," Elev put in softly.

"I don't care!" Sana shouted at him. He glared at passersby who paused to watch. By the time the three of them were more or less alone again, Sana had reigned in his temper. "Did they tell you what kind of hunger Lawz has?"

"Sana, please."

Dar mutely shook his head.

"It's for people," Sana proclaimed in the same tone he used to disclaim Lawz's sanity.

"Sana!" Elev shifted nervously.

"People?" Dar echoed softly. He hoped he had heard wrong. "He eats people?"

"Feeds on them." Whether Sana's words were correction or confirmation, Dar couldn't tell. It was hard to hear inflections through the haze of shock and disgust.

"You brought us here to be food?" Dar asked Elev, wide eyed.

"Yes!" Elev clenched his fists and looked up defiantly at both Dar and Sana. "Yes. When the madness hit, he went wild, feeding indiscriminately, taking more than he's ever taken before. He terrified us. He terrified himself!" Elev gulped a breath. "Last year he wouldn't come out. He wouldn't let me in. He didn't feed at all. You saw what he looks like. But the hunger's driving him crazy and he has to feed. But he won't do that to The Villages anymore. Lawz can't take that anymore. So yes, I've brought in outsiders this year. Yes, I've helped him feed on strangers. And if that is what it takes to keep The Villages safe and Lawz sane, then I'm going to keep on doing it!"

Elev gasped, out of breath and looking surprised by his own outburst.

"So that's why," Sana whispered, breaking a short silence. "We thought maybe he was sated, after the gorging." His breath caught at the word. "We had hoped maybe he'd be too weak to come back this year. Or?"

"Sana!" A breathless woman interrupted the other possibilities Sana had hoped for. She ran up the muddy road, waving her hands in excitement. "Sana, have you heard?" She stopped beside them long enough bellow between breaths, "Did you hear? No one's received any gifts. Two days to go, and no one's received anything. Not a single person in any of The Villages!"

Sana looked at Dar. "That's because Lawz brought in outsiders," he explained quietly.

"Outsiders?" The woman looked at Dar as if she only now noticed him. Her expression went from astounded to grateful. "Oh, bless you, young man, bless you. You have the gratitude of all The Villages. I must spread the news, Sana. We can celebrate!" She left in as much of a hurry as she had arrived.

Elev watched the woman go with a frown. Sana watched Dar with a sad expression.

"Celebrate because there are no gifts?" Dar asked.

"Lawz gives gifts to those he has chosen to feed on." Sana shook his head. "A sign, so we could say good bye. He probably thought it would cheer them up, by giving them something they had dearly wanted. A last wish, as it were."

"Gifts," Dar muttered. He gathered up his borrowed robe and ran from Sana and Elev with only one word of explanation. "Tao!"

@---->

Worried squealing led Dar to the cooking/storage room.

Tao sat at a long work table, his head on his arms, by all appearances asleep. The ferrets were in his lap, trying to get his attention by making noise and clawing at his shirt. Tao didn't react.

Lawz was bent over him, and seemed to be kissing Tao's forehead. A soft, golden light emanated from Tao's body. It swirled up his skin, eddied over the features of his face, and was sucked up by Lawz's gentle caress.

"Tao!" Dar shouted. Tao did not stir.

Dar dropped his voice, and demanded warningly of Lawz, "Let him go!"

Lawz, eyes closed, remained as he was.

"I said stop!" Dar rushed him, ramming himself against Lawz and landing them both on the floor too close to the fireplace. Dar recovered first. He pulled the spade end of his staff from its holster. Pointing it at Lawz in a warning off gesture, Dar went Tao's side.

"Tao?" Tao breathed. He seemed to simply be asleep. A small smile graced his lips as if he were in a pleasant dream. Dar shook his shoulder. "Tao? Tao, wake up."

"Hhm, what?" Tao squinted up at him. Bleary eyes blinked several times before they tracked on Dar's worried features. "What?" Tao sat up suddenly, paused to shake his head against dizziness. He took in the scene and frowned. "What happened?"

"Lawz." It was the only answer Dar could give as he still wasn't sure what Lawz had been doing to Tao.

Lawz was just getting to his knees. He looked up at the sound of his name.

"Did he try to eat me?" Tao asked, alarmed by naked hunger in Lawz's eyes. Tao looked over himself, searching for bite marks. He found only the ferrets and gently moved them to the table.

"Why did you wake him? Now he will be scared." Lawz's voice deepened with his wail. "I can't feed on the scared. Not again. I can still taste the last one."

"Dar?"

"I think it's time to go." Keeping an eye on the pained Lawz, Dar gripped Tao by the arm and helped him to his feet.

"I'm so hungry!" Lawz shouted in frustration. He propelled himself off the floor straight toward Dar and Tao.

Dar shoved Tao out of the way. Tao lost his balance and fell in an heap amongst a pile of food baskets.

Dar moved the staff-half up, but not in time to ward off Lawz's incoming body. Lawz, light as he was, had inertia on his side and knocked Dar off balance. Dar was forced to go to his knees or end up in a less dignified, and possibly fatal, position. Lawz now stood over him, his eyes bright with pain. Desperation lent him strength, and he held Dar's staff arm at a safe distance. With his other hand, Lawz pulled Dar's head toward him, and put his lips on Dar's forehead. Dar started to glow, then he went motionless.

Tao was still extracting himself from the mess of baskets and food when he saw Dar go down. Now it looked as if Lawz were drinking golden light from Dar's body. The act seemed to have stunned Dar; though his eyes were wide, he did not move from Lawz's touch.

Tao stumbled to his feet and looked frantically around for something to separate them with. He didn't know if touching Lawz caused the eerie glow and freeze, but he didn't want to chance getting stuck with Dar, then neither would have a chance. He spotted the water flasks Lawz had given him sitting on the table. He grabbed one at random, hefted it, brought his arm back to throw, then noticed the red stripe. Tao uncorked it, moved for a better aim, and flung the contents at Lawz. The hot tea hit it's mark, splashing Lawz full in the face. Unfortunately, the hot liquid also got Dar.

Lawz cried out and pulled away from Dar, one hand letting go to wipe at his stinging face. Still stunned, Dar blinked and swayed. Tao pulled at him, but Lawz still had a firm hold of Dar's arm. Tao used the empty flask to hit Lawz's forearm. Lawz grunted, let go of Dar and reached for Tao. Tao threw the flask at him, aiming for the head. Lawz ducked, evading the projectile, which landed in the fireplace with a splash of glowing embers. Tao used the distraction to take the pointed staff end from Dar's still lax fingers and wave it before them.

The room seemed to pause for half a moment. Tao supported a slowly reviving Dar, holding the staff piece in wait for whatever Lawz planned to do next. Lawz looked ready to rush them, despite the weapon pointed at him. His eyes went to the changing colors of the etchings on the staff, then to Tao's frightened but determined stance. Lawz let out an inarticulate growl and ran?

?past Dar and Tao and out of the room.

The staff half lost altitude as Tao's arm dropped in relief.

"Tao?" Dar murmured.

"It's all right. Lawz left." Tao helped Dar to his feet. "How do you feel?"

"Dizzy." Dar wiped wetness from his face. He gave his fingers a puzzled look when they came away smelling like tea. "What happened?"

"Lawz. Whatever this hunger is, it's fed by people."

"The golden light."

"Yes," Tao said softly, uneasy with how Dar knew that.

Dar pulled out the club section of his staff, took the spade section from Tao, and twisted the pieces together to form his full length staff weapon.

"Dar, wait," Tao hissed as Dar started for the door. "Where are you going?"

"To find Lawz."

"Why? We should get out of here. What if he decides to finish eating, uh, feeding? On us."

"Tao, if we don't stop him, Lawz will find someone else to feed on."

"Okay, okay," Tao agreed. "But I'd like to know how you plan on stopping him. If he's really immortal, anything we do will only be a temporary measure."

@---->

Dar opened the door slowly. His body was tensed for anything in this foreign environment. Through the crack, he could see Lawz in the main room, standing next to the fireplace. The hood of his robe was back up. Elev sat slumped on the short chair next to the fireplace.

"They fought me." Lawz's deep voice sounded morose.

"Did you really expect otherwise? They're not of The Villages." Even Elev's voice was subdued. It seemed much less sing-songish. Dar wondered if that was because of the mood or the person he was speaking to.

"I had hoped they would sleep."

After a pause, Elev asked quietly, "So what are you going to do?"

"Find more."

Dar looked back at Tao who shook his head. No more.

"I can't allow that." Dar pushed through the door, startling Lawz and Elev. Both turned to look at him, Elev quickly averted his eyes.

"I must feed."

"There must be another way." Dar held his staff loose but ready in case he could not convince Lawz.

"No other way." As if dismissing Dar, Lawz faced the fire again.

Dar cautiously moved to stand behind the two taller chairs. From there he could clearly see the fireplace, and Lawz's interest in it.

A dark red light shimmered around the orange-yellow of the fire, outlining its mutable edges. It gathered at the tip of the flames, straightened, then streamed upward, like a curtain of red smoke. Within that smoke were faces of sleeping people. Lawz muttered as the images flickered past.

"You've watched us?" Tao had come to stand near Dar and watched the red haze with wide eyes.

"I can see you when you are sleeping," Lawz admitted.

"That's how you knew who we are, where we were?"

"Yes."

The images in the streaming light paused on a girl, curled against a tree. She was barely visible under all the leaves.

"I know her," Tao said, startled. "That's the girl who stole my water flask."

"Naughty," Lawz murmured softly. "But very close to nice."

"A child," Elev snapped. Up until now, he had sat hunkered in his chair, not looking at anyone. He gave Lawz's robe a firm look.

"Yes," Lawz sighed. "A child." The image flickered away to be replaced by someone much older.

Relieved, but watchful of the fire, Elev sat back again.

"Wait!" Tao said, and the image paused. "K..king Zad." Zad lay on a pile of furs, eyes closed, mouth opened. Even in sleep he somehow managed to look menacing. "If you have to eat someone, you should eat him."

"Tao!" Dar was surprised to hear Tao advocate the killing of anyone. Except this was Zad, of the Terrons. If there were a people Tao despised unconditionally, it was the Terrons.

Tao looked back unapologetically. "Well, he'd be doing the world a favor."

"Oh no, no, no." Lawz shook his head so vigorously his hood was in danger of coming off. "Naughty, very very naughty. I will not feed on the not nice. I can't."

"Why?"

"You are what you eat," Lawz said sagely, then added cryptically, "Madness."

Elev finally looked up at them. His eyes were nearly as tired as Lawz's had been, the first time he showed them. "He fed on the strangers," Elev explained. "Apparently, a good heart must feed on good hearts to thrive. And remain sane."

"But you kill those you feed on?"

A heavy sigh was the only answer from Lawz. Elev looked down but nodded.

"What good is any good if it kills other good?" Tao asked. He paused, frowned as he tried to work out what he had just said, then shook his head. "Yes, good hearts feed good hearts. They help each other, encourage each other to grow, to spread, maybe to help others achieve their potential to be of the good hearted. But the? the 'feeding' should be mutually beneficial, not parasitic. Or else one of the goods is going to become bad just to survive."

Lawz turned around to face them. His hood, however, fell over his face so neither Dar nor Tao could see him. Elev, on the other hand, watched Tao with an openly surprised expression.

"You understand," Elev said, awed. "The Villages have changed since the curse. We are not as friendly as we used to be." Elev gave Lawz a pointed look. "People who used to be open and helping are now closed and turn away. The once happy have become bitter. Sana is only one of many. Even before the strangers came that winter, there had been more crime. More anger."

"In response to Lawz and the curse?"

"I don't know. Maybe, as you said, it's the reaction of people wanting to survive, even if means unhappily so."

Tao frowned. He tilted his head, as if to try to see beyond the fur trim of Lawz's hood. "Why don't you just stop feeding?"

"I did once," Lawz said lowly. "I had only mortal food last year."

"And you survived," Tao pointed out. "So why start again?"

"I have no choice but to survive," Lawz said bitterly. He sat heavily on his chair by the fire.

Dar nodded sympathetically. Tao looked at him, still confused. "I asked Sharak something like that once," Dar said. "He said immortality does not mean invulnerability. It does not make him immune to illness or injury."

Tao's face clouded with concern as he thought of the implications. "Or hunger?"

"Or hunger," Dar confirmed.

Tao went quiet. For a moment, the whole room seemed to follow suit.

Lawz turned back to the fireplace. Zad's sleeping form still wafted in the red smoke light. Without any obvious que from Lawz, the image flitted away to be replaced by more faces.

"That's Nylus and Hazel," Tao said, startled when the images brought more familiar people. "Nylus saved my life back on that island."

Nylus slept with his arm around Hazel, a smile pulling at one side of his face. Hazel had her hair down. It streamed over his chest and covered half her face.

"Yes," Lawz sighed, and pronounced, "Nice, and very good."

"You can't have them," Dar said.

"I must feed. If not them then choose." Nylus and Hazel disappeared, strangers took their place.

"I can't. You will kill them."

Lawz shifted in his chair to face them again. "I thought you understood."

Dar winced. Tao stepped closer and spoke before Dar could answer. "Maybe there's another way. Maybe we can find an alternative."

"There are no alternatives!" Lawz stood to emphasize his shout.

Elev followed Lawz to his feet. Using more normal tones, he said, "We've had time to try everything."

"Everything?"

"I even tried to feed on animals when the madness struck. It doesn't work. Nothing else will work!"

Tense silence followed this outburst. Lawz leaned his head back, as if to look at the ceiling. The hood fell off, revealing closed eyes and a pained expression. He took a deep breath, opened his eyes, and looked at Dar and Tao.

"This was tight, once," he said quietly, holding out his arms to show the flaps of cloth, "before the unnatural hungers began."

"That robe could easily fit Dar, with room to spare." Tao glanced at Dar who wore once such robe.

"Yes, I had girth. And I can eat, like you and he, but it no longer sustains me. Not like it does mortal flesh. It just gives my stomach something to do.

"When the madness struck, I fed and fed, and might have kept on feeding if my time hadn't come. Last winter, I was still hungry. Famished. I'd never felt the need so strongly. I was terrified to feed, even on the good. I was afraid if I started, I wouldn't stop."

Elev looked at the rugs.

Lawz looked sadly at his friend, then up at the roof. "Now the hunger is eating at me. I fear this time the madness will be worse than when I fed on those strangers."

Lawz closed his eyes.

Tao shifted his weight from foot to foot, holding himself from stepping back. He looked at Dar. Dar returned the look with a small shake of his head. He had no answers.

"Do you know how to break the curse?" Dar asked.

"There is no cure for this curse."

"We've tried everything we could think of," Elev said. He returned to his chair.

"The sorcerer who cursed you should be able to uncurse you," Dar said.

"We thought of that," Elev said. "It's hard to argue with a sorcerer who will not listen. It's impossible to get an audience with a sorcerer who is intent on avoiding you."

Tao, deep in thought, suddenly brightened. He glanced at Dar, as if for support, before addressing Lawz. "Must you kill those you feed on?"

Lawz looked at him with exhausted eyes. "Everything kills to eat."

"No, not everything. There are insects that feed on blo