The Hob's Bargain

yet. It was as if I could see the will that each possessed, and measure my power against them.
    See , said the ghost speaking secretly to me. See what we could do?
    â€œShould be more cautious,” advised the shaper. “Could have killed her seeing if she could protect herself from ghosts. My master would have been unhappy. He sent me to watch you.”
    The ghost looked up at me with its eyeless face, as if we shared a secret. The double vision I’d had with the skeleton came back, and I could see the ghost as it had been in mortal form—a woman with hair of bright brass and laughter sweet as the south wind. A woman who had been afraid to be alone, to die.
    Yes , her voice whispered in my mind, I could give you power. Magic you could use to make the villagers like you again. Make them do as they ought, appease the earth guardian. You could save them from themselves.
    I knelt until I was level with its face.
    â€œGo rest,” I said slowly because it was difficult to speak. “Sleep now.” It wasn’t a suggestion, as I’d made to the raider, for this ghost I controlled absolutely. “Be at peace.”
    The ghost faded, as the other had. As it did, I felt that odd surge of power and awareness drift away.
    I looked up into Caefawn’s eyes.
    â€œI didn’t bring her here to see if she was strong enough to protect herself from the ghosts,” he said.
    â€œWhat, then?” demanded the shaper petulantly.
    â€œHe wanted to know if I’d give in to temptation,” I said suddenly, not realizing it until the words were out of my mouth. “‘Death magic, blood magic slips easy down the throat’.” I quoted an old lay softly. “Power calls with temptation’s demand.’”
    â€œI could have stopped you,” Caefawn said. “Now, while you’re just learning.” Could have killed me , I thought.
    â€œYou didn’t have to,” I replied, getting to my feet like an old woman.
    Stiff and sore, as though I’d been fighting rather than sitting in a garden, I tottered forward and kissed the hob’s cheek. The surface was smoother than the skin my imagination had endowed him with. It was a relief to know I wouldn’t have survived to do the things the ghost had offered to me.
    The shaper hooted and blew raspberries, but the hob smiled as sweetly as if he read my thoughts.

    W HEN I TOOK MY PATROL THE NEXT NIGHT, THE HOB came with me. Though “with” might be the wrong word. He’d run ahead and jump out from behind trees, laughing when I jumped and swore at him
    â€œNo need to swear so quietly,” he advised merrily. “The raiders are mostly in camp today. There’s a small party by Wedding Pass, but they’ll not cross our path.”
    I stopped short. “If there’s no danger, why are we patrolling?”
    He looked at me seriously for a moment. “Wouldn’t do to get dependent on me. The bargain’s for the survival of the village, remember. They need to be ready. Even when the raiders are taken care of, there are hillgrims, trolls, and a dozen other such nasties. I understand that in the past you’ve been protected here.” He gestured widely to indicate the valley. “Not having to worry about much but the occasional bandit or wolf. It will never be that way again.” He strolled through the field, passing an arm over my shoulder and letting his tail settle around my hips. “There was a reason the mages felt they had to bind the magic. Most of the wizards of the time felt the same way you do about bloodmages, blood magic. But they agreed to it all the same.”
    â€œWhy not leave the lands to the wildlings?” I said. “There were other places to go.”
    He shook his head. “The wild was growing, pushing mankind back. I don’t know how it was other places.” He gave me a wry smile, acknowledging his tie to the mountain. “But here mankind was dying.”
    I walked with him, thinking about what he’d said. But I was also thinking about the arm slung so casually across my shoulders. Being courted by a hob wasn’t as different as it could have been. But it was different enough for me. I grinned to myself as I bent to unhook his tail.

    S O I DIDN’T TELL K ORET THE HOB KNEW WHERE THE raiders were most of the time. When I patrolled, Caefawn joined me as often as not. Sometimes the earth spirit’s shaper came,