The Leszy’s bandy legs had already taken him far ahead. He whistled for them and called back:
“Follow the god!”
And with that, they were scrambling up the hill, leaving the path, and disappearing into the heart of the woods.
Despite being such an ungainly little creature, the Leszy took the forest at a dead sprint. The trees flashed in and out. The red mist began to fade. The golden flames trailed away.
Then, all of a sudden, the little god skidded to a stop.
“We’re there!” he cried. “We did a few laps on the way, but we’re here now!”
Lukasz nearly tripped right over him. Ren went face-first into a bush, and Felka simply collapsed in the middle of the path. Koszmar staggered off a few feet and was sick in the trees. Czarn and Ry? seemed completely fine, and although Lukasz wasn’t exactly sure what animal laughter sounded like, he was fairly certain they were making fun of Koszmar.
“We’re there!” trilled the Leszy. “We’re there, we’re there, quick as a hare, led by a bear, and we’re there, we’re there, we’re there!”
Birds were singing. Squirrels chattered overhead. It looked like a normal, only moderately enchanted forest. Even Lukasz’s shoulder hurt less. He breathed a sigh of relief.
“And where is there exactly?” panted Koszmar, emerging from the trees and patting his lips with a handkerchief.
The Leszy dropped the club and clapped his hands together, capering around in a circle.
“Come, come!” He beckoned with a crooked finger. “All will be well, just follow the trickster. Follow the god. Follow the Leszy!”
Felka groaned but otherwise stayed silent.
The Leszy rapped his furry knuckles on a nearby tree root. Then he swung his club back onto his shoulder so violently that he almost whacked Jakub in the face.
“Honey!” called the Leszy, also apparently to no one in particular. “Honey, I’m home! I brought guests!” Then he rounded on Koszmar. “And if you’re sick on the carpet, I’ll turn you into a mouse.”
Perhaps already sounding a little mouselike, Koszmar only managed to squeak in reply. Ren glanced down at her mice, looking faintly horrified.
The tree blurred. The earth shifted and shook, and suddenly—Lukasz doubted whether anything could shock him anymore—roots began to break through the dirt, curling and undulating like enormous serpents. The whole tree leaned backward, and a hole yawned beneath it.
The Leszy trotted up to the hole and looked back at them.
“Come on, come on! Bring your horse of course, of course. Bring your horse!” he hooted to himself, and looked delighted. “I made a rhyme, did you hear that? Come, come, let’s fill your tum!”
Lukasz had already decided that the little creature was completely mad. Now he was also wondering if he was completely dangerous.
If Ren was thinking the same thing, then she didn’t show it. In fact, she was the first to the tree roots. The Leszy dropped his club and clapped his hands again, beaming.
“So brave, my queen! Always the first! Nothing to fear, my dear, my dear. Follow me!”
Lukasz seriously doubted that. But Ren had already disappeared.
“What if he kills us?” whispered Koszmar. He gasped. “What if he eats us?”
“Don’t get my hopes up,” muttered Felka.
As Lukasz descended through the roots, he encountered a set of smooth dirt steps. Up ahead, he could just see the outline of Ren’s tangled hair, her pale hand trailing along the wall.
“Ren,” he whispered.
She slowed, half turned.
“Yes.”
“The monsters came from below ground.”
Ren looked up at him over her shoulder, and he didn’t want her to turn away. He didn’t want to lose her. Not after they’d just started again.
“I know.”
“Doesn’t that worry you?”
She paused, held up their little procession for a moment, and stood on her toes to whisper in his ear. She was going to have to stop doing that, or there was going to be trouble.
“You have to trust someone, sometime.”
She grinned. It was a pretty, twisted little thing.
“But this . . . god?” he asked.
They began to move downward again. He knew he was grinning like an idiot, and he didn’t care. He could hear the others catching up. Ren turned back to him, walking backward. She wrinkled her nose.
“I trusted you, didn’t I?”
Her teeth flashed, and he knew she was smiling. Then she twirled back around to follow the Leszy.
Lukasz followed, his heart sinking. He’d promised her no games; he wanted to start again. And here he was, telling lie after lie. He didn’t want this to end. And