Sianim 02 - Wolfsbane

presence that they might be willing to kill to stop the association with humans.” Aralorn gave him her best smile. “It would be simpler if the shapeshifters didn’t have a hand in this. If the people here are convinced that my father’s affliction came at the hands of the shapeshifters, it would mean war.”
    “We’ll have to see to it that doesn’t happen.” He paused. “If necessary, we could provide them with a villain.”
    She glanced at him, and said sharply, “Oh, no, you don’t. You’ve been maligned quite enough as it is. Let the late ae’Magi’s evil son disappear from view after his father’s death.”
    She started hiking back toward the waterfall. “My uncle might be able to do something about the creature that is guarding the Lyon. He’s a lot older than he looks—and powerful. If nothing else, he should be able to tell us what the shadow-thing is.”

    As they exited the waterfall, Wolf glanced over his shoulder, then froze, pricking his ears. Aralorn followed his gaze and saw that the smooth surface of snow behind them was unmarred by any sign of their passage.
    “It’s always that way,” murmured Aralorn. “There are never any trails—not even of casual wildlife. I don’t know why the stones extend the effort since no one can come here without first going through the maze. They are very old, though, and have their own ideas of what’s important.”
    She headed for the place they’d entered the grotto, where the undergrowth was thinner. Ascending the gorge was worse than climbing down had been—at least while they’d been going downhill, when she slipped it was in the right direction. It didn’t help that Wolf seemed to have no trouble at all and spent most of his time waiting for her to struggle through the underbrush.
    They emerged finally into a level meadow, where frozen strands of grass poked gracefully through the snow at the bases of fifteen gray monoliths set in a circle, each one the height of a man. It looked nothing at all like the place that had been at the start of their descent earlier that day.
    “The maze stones as they are from this side of the maze,” said Aralorn. “Do you want to take a closer look?”
    Without replying, Wolf stepped into the circle.
    “The story is that each of the stones was once a shapeshifter. They gave their lives to protect the remnants of their people,” she said.
    High above them, a red-tailed hawk called out.
    Aralorn looked up. “That’s my uncle. We’d best be on our way.”
    “You know where we are?” asked Wolf, leaving the circle after a last thoughtful look.
    She shook her head. “After we pass through the center of the maze stones, there is a barrier to cross outside the circle—here it is, do you feel it?”
    The wolf shivered briefly as he started through it. Quickly, Aralorn grabbed a handful of fur and followed.
    “Sorry,” she said, releasing his pelt. “If you cross separately, we’ll end up in two different places.”
    “Ah?” Wolf turned to look behind him. There was no clearing, no monolithic stones, only dense forest. “A translocation spell? It didn’t feel like it.”
    Aralorn frowned, smoothing the fur she’d ruffled on his back. “I don’t know how like your translocation spell it is. With green magic it is possible to build . . . pathways from one area strong with magic to another. The stones direct the paths and work magic constantly to keep the valley safe.” She smiled. “If they listened to Halven, it shouldn’t take us long to get home.”
    The woods closed in upon them, and the path they trod became a knee-high growth of evergreens amid the older trees. Here and there, it became so choked with brush that they had to leave it altogether and look for a better way around. It was in the middle of one such detour that they came upon an old abandoned stone hut in a small clearing.
    “The hermit’s cottage,” exclaimed Aralorn in surprise. She looked around the forest and shook her head. It was funny how familiar everything suddenly looked when she knew where she was. “I should have figured it out earlier: This is the only part of Lambshold that has so much forest. We’re not as close to the keep as we could be, but if we head due south from here, we should make it before dinner.”
    As she turned to look at Wolf, something crashed through the trees half a dozen yards away. She turned to see an animal as tall as Sheen and even more massive emerge from the forest. It let out a