The Demon and the City

had become aware of their presence.
    "So what's the plan?" Zhu Irzh asked. "We just go in and ask for Deveth? What if they refuse to tell us?"
    "They will not refuse me," the maiden said.
    The demon took a deep breath. "All right. I'll take your word for it."
    "You'd best be elsewhere," Chen said to the badger. "See what you can find."
    "I dislike dogs," the badger said, and disappeared into the darkness without further comment.
    The dogmen swarmed around them as they came up to the gate, drifting and changing from their dog-form to half-human, and back again. But it was clear that they recognized something of the maiden's nature, for they were curiously respectful: keeping their distance and bobbing up and down in the travesty of a bow. Their respect did not extend to Chen or the demon. Zhu Irzh cuffed away a nose that was becoming over-familiar with his crotch, and shouted to the maiden, "Can't you control them?"
    "We will go inside," the maiden said firmly, and swept through the gate with the pack in her wake.
     
    They were sitting in what amounted to state, in a long room filled with an untidy muddle of furniture. This, it had been explained to them, was the pack leader's parlor. The maiden had been taken into another room, leaving Chen and Zhu Irzh to cool their heels with a pot of tea that tasted like wet straw.
    "I hope she'll be all right," the demon said.
    "I'm sure she can look after herself," Chen replied. "She is a goddess, after all."
    "Yes, but her body isn't."
    "Her body is still that of a Celestial and these creatures know better than to touch one of those. They don't want to bring the wrath of Heaven down onto the Night Harbor, after all. Kuan Yin may not have jurisdiction here, but everyone knows that it's a delicate balance."
    At that point, the maiden reappeared in the doorway, assuaging Zhu Irzh's fears.
    "They know a little of this woman," she said. "They say that she came through the village and was transformed, but then she left—ran into the mountains and has not been seen since. It seems our journey here has been pointless. We should leave."
    "No, wait a moment," Chen said, but the maiden winked at him, an extraordinary effect to Zhu Irzh's mind, given her deific origins.
    "Come on," the demon said, rising. "Let's get out of here."
    The dogs watched them go with smug self-satisfaction. The pack leader went as far as to express the hope that Zhu Irzh had enjoyed his visit.
    "Greatly," the demon lied. He was sorely tempted to add, "Though I'm really more of a cat person," but managed to restrain himself.
    As soon as they left the gates of the village and turned the corner of the road that led back to the port, the badger shuffled out of the shadows.
    "Well?" Chen said.
    "There is a trail."
    "Of the dogwoman, of Deveth?"
    "Perhaps. It is hard to say. But this you should know," the badger said. "There is another immortal here."
    "Yes, the one whom we left on the road," the maiden replied. "The goddess—I—has sent someone to fetch the poor lost soul."
    Zhu Irzh repressed a snort as the badger went on. "No, not that one. I know its scent, and your own. This is another."
    The maiden became very still. Zhu Irzh, recognizing the goddess' statue mode, waited.
    "Another?" the maiden asked, in a small, cold voice. "Are you sure?"
    "I am rarely mistaken," the badger said.
    "Is it male, or female?"
    "It is male, although this was not obvious to me at first. There is someone with him. A human, and not a soul, either. A living person."
    "Goddess," Chen said. "You have to tell us what is going on."
    "I cannot. At least, not here. You are right, you need to know. But first we have to find these people." She turned to the badger. "Can you lead us to them?"
    "I believe so. But I do not think they escaped. They were taken by the dogmen. The scent of them is all around."
    "Very well," the maiden said. "Then lead on."

Thirty-Nine
    Robin had no idea where they had been taken. At some point during the previous night, she had been roughly roused from sleep, dragged from the hovel, and bound: a gag placed across her mouth, her wrists secured behind her back and her legs shackled. Then she had been led out into the compound and hoisted onto a cart. Mhara, to her relief and dismay, was already there, similarly constrained. They could look at one another, but not speak: the gag was an effective one. The cart rumbled off, jolting and bouncing over the rough ground. She could not see what might be pulling it, but