Tricked

hypothesize that would also be the case here. Think of what I could do to those insufferable cats that prowl on top of fences and taunt dogs worldwide! For the price of some discomfort and chafing, I’d be a legendary canine hero! ‹
    Yes, Oberon, I imagine you would, but, unfortunately, those rocket launchers exist only as props and CGI .
    › Aww. You could have said so at first. I was getting my hopes up and then you ruthlessly smooshed them. ‹
    Hound 4, Druid 2 , I said, glad to finally score a solid point.
    › Hey, wait! I won yesterday! ‹
    You didn’t call it, so the game continues .
    › Fine. I’m calling it tonight and you’re going to owe me a porterhouse. ‹
    The workers on the mesa noticed the sword, and so did Darren and Sophie, but no one said anything about it; they were too polite.
    Asking Oberon to stand sentinel outside, I entered the hogan with Granuaile to survey the interior. Hogans are not particularly large buildings, only about 250 square feet inside, but they’re important to ceremonial life and thus crucial to the beginnings of large enterprises like this one. This hogan was one of the more modern plans, built in an octagonal shape; the walls were fairly free of gaps, since they were constructed with precut logs, and the roof was a latticework of beams covered over with black plastic sheeting at this point, a four-plane design. Tomorrow the roof would be finished and covered with mud, insulating it well, and the exterior walls would be covered too. I thought it interesting that this particular hogan included no windows; circulation came solely from the door and the round chimney built at the meeting of the various beams. In the center of the floor was a fire pit, and Frank Chischilly was hunched down over it, tending a small fire. Lava rocks were arranged closely around it, and Frank had sprinkled some herbs on them. The burning herbs sent fingers of fragrant white smoke up through the chimney.
    He shot a glance up at me and then spoke to Granuaile. » We’re going to stay in here tonight, « he said. » Safer that way. «
    Granuaile noted the profound lack of facilities. » Guess I’d better visit the privy before sundown, then. «
    » Yep. We’ll be startin’ the sing as soon as everyone’s ready. «
    » Anything I can do to help? « she asked.
    Frank’s eyes flicked over to me. » Well, if you happen to know any way to keep out or repel evil spirits, « he said, perfectly serious, » that would be helpful. «
    That was an interesting challenge. » What kind of evil? « I asked, not knowing precisely what to ward against.
    Frank stared at me in disbelief and then spat into the pit before asking, » Ain’t there only one kind? «
    » No, there’s all kinds of evil, just like there’s all kinds of good. What I need to know is where the source is. We’re not dealing with the Christian hell here or rakshasas from the Vedic planes. Where is the evil coming from? This plane or somewhere else? «
    » Oh, I see what you mean now. The spirits come from First World. «
    » That’s Black World, right? « I asked. I knew some of the basics of the Navajo faith, but I was by no means an expert. Their creation story follows the Emergence pattern, where people emerge into this world after climbing through several subterranean levels, evolving as they go. According to what little I knew, our plane is Fourth World, which is sometimes called Glittering World or White World. Granuaile appeared lost but didn’t interrupt to ask.
    » Yep, that’s Black World, « Frank said.
    » How’d they get all the way up here? « I wondered.
    » Answer to that depends on who you ask. You want my guess? «
    » Absolutely. «
    » I think they been here all along, since the world was first bein’ made. We know that monsters an’ spirits from the lower worlds came here to Fourth World in the beginning. But Changing Woman sent her sons, Monster Slayer and Child-Born-of-Water, to kill ’em all. I think they got most of the monsters—they left old age, hunger, cold, and poverty behind on purpose. «
    » Ah, but they didn’t take care of all the spirits, right? «
    » Right. Those spirits from First World, they were spirits of the air, but mostly ornery insects—angry beetles, ants, locusts, dragonflies, and the like. They got kicked out of all the other worlds for fightin’ all the time, always wantin’ to dominate someone else. Most of ’em got turned into real bugs, but some didn’t and