white through the red tresses of his beard.
"Don't ye insult the thing!" Ivan warned harshly. "Don't ye ever tell a firbolg that ye could've beaten it unless ye've already beaten it!"
"Where are my associates?" Vander demanded, his huge sword hovering in the air only a few short strides from the companions. Cadderly realized then that the fir-bolg could probably take one great step forward and cut him in half before he even began to form a defense - and what defense could Cadderly put up against so monstrous a beast, anyway?
"They are dead, except for one/' Cadderly answered as firmly as he could, determined to show no signs of weakness, though he was less than confident of how the giant would take the news.
Vander nodded, seeming none too upset.
It was a good sign, Cadderly noted, a piece of the puzzle that fit exactly. "I came here to find you," the young priest explained, "to speak with you about our common enemy."
There, he had put things out in the open. His three friends stared at him, still not in the know about Cadderly's revelations.
"Ghost," %nder replied. "His name is Ghost." Danica and the dwarves looked to each other and shrugged.
"Together we can beat him," Cadderly promised.
%nder snickered, a curious sound indeed, coming from the giant. "You know little of him, Cadderly," he replied.
"I am stiH alive," Cadderly argued, not surprised at all that the giant had figured out his identity. "Can the same be said for most of Ghost's associates?"
"You know little of him," Vander said again.
"Then tell me."
Cadderly bade his Mends to clean up the yard and set a watch from the house. The companions, particularly Danica, didn't seem anxious to leave their friend beside a dangerous giant, but Vander said something to the dwarves in that mountain language, and Ivan immediately took hold of Danica's arm.
"He gave me his word," Ivan explained. "A firbolg never breaks his word." Cadderly's nod further assured his concerned lover, and she left with the dwarves, looking back over her shoulder every step of the way.
"\fou should be wary," %nder said as soon as the others had left.
Cadderly looked at him curiously, wondering if the giant had just threatened him.
"I will not go against what I have promised," Vander assured him, "but Ghost can take my body when he chooses, and you would be an easy kill if your guard was down."
"Then we must act quickly," Cadderly replied, no tremble in his voice. "I know Ghost took your body and left you in his boots when we had cornered him in the inn. And I know, too, that the possession can be blocked."
Vander shook his head doubtfully.
"Danica, the woman you just met, blocked him," Cadderly replied. "Together, you and I can do the same. I have spells, and this." He held up the amulet he had taken from Rufo in Shilmista Forest, the imp's amulet that Cadderly had claimed as his own, that allowed the young priest to easily contact the mind of another. "The amulet will allow me to join with you in your struggle."
Vander eyed him suspiciously, but Cadderly could see he had at least intrigued the beleaguered giant.
They talked for a short while longer, then went to the farmhouse to coordinate the defenses with the others. They found the dwarves hard at work freeing the captured Night Mask from the broken window.
The man at last slipped back to the kitchen floor, shakily finding his feet. He would have offered no resistance, so obviously outnumbered, except that he spotted Vander out of the corner of his eye, standing beside the outside door. With a jerk, the man pulled free of Ivan's halfhearted hold, punched the surprised dwarf in the eye, and rushed for the door.
"Master!" he cried hopefully.
"That one's going to be trouble," Ivan muttered.
There came a great swoosh as Vander's sword cut the air and cut the man's torso cleanly in half.
"Nope," Pikel said to Ivan, both of the tough dwarves wincing at the gruesome sight.
under shrugged against the stunned stares that lingered on him from every direction. "If you knew him as well as I," the firbolg explained, his tone casual, "you would have killed him long before now."
"Not like that," Ivan protested, "not when me and me brother got to clean the mess up!"
Cadderly closed his eyes and fell back out of the room, back to the relative clean of the wider yard. He wondered if he would ever get as accustomed to such violence as his sturdy, battle-hardened