“Grem,” Arn said. “Hold on to him, but don't hurt him!”

  Grem grabbed the Librarian's arm.

  “He not going anywhere,” he said.

  “What are you doing?” the Librarian said. “Are you crazy? Why did you bring the Underworld here? They can't be here!”

  “Calm down,” Dav said. “We're here to help. Prag, can you keep the door shut? Maybe put up some blocks?”

  The Pakmog nodded and went to work.

  “Help? You really must be crazy! Get out!” the Librarian said weakly.

  “I'm Dav. What's your name?”

  “I'm Myk. You need to get out of here! They can't see these things! They can't know about anything here!”

  He stared up at Grem with wide eyes then turned to look at Dav.

  “Who are you? What are you doing?”

  “Find the crystal,” Dav said to them all.

  Arn nodded and they all started going through the room, looking everywhere.

  Prag had built up a wall of blocks across the doorway which would give them a little time. Myk the Librarian watched him with shock.

  “They can build?” he said. “This is a disaster. How did this happen? Did you give it to them?”

  He stared at Dav accusingly. Dav ignored him.

  “We're looking for a crystal,” he said. “I don't know how big it is, but it's bigger than this” - he held out his hands - “and it's going to... to wreck your whole city. We need to destroy it.”

  Myk just shook his head.

  “I'm not telling you anything,” he said.

  “Prag!” Kim yelled. “I think I found something! Come here!”

  The Pakmog ran over to Kim.

  “That the smell!” Prag said.

  Something started banging on the door of the room.

  “They're here!” Arn yelled.

  Grem dragged Myk over to the others, and Dav ran ahead to see.

  They crystal was much, much bigger than the one in the Village of Peace. It was three blocks high and one block wide. It was sitting between a workbench and a furnace.

  “This,” Dav pointed, looking at Myk. “This thing. How did it get here?”

  Something was going whack whack whack against the door to the room.

  “They breaking door with axe,” Grem said.

  “You need to tell us!” Dav said. “We're not doing this to hurt anyone!”

  “You gave the Maker gift to things from the Underworld!” Myk said. “You've already hurt everyone! I'm not telling you anything.”

  “That thing take away your minds,” Prag said. “We see it happen.”

  “What?”

  “It's true,” Kim said. “The Village of Peace. They had a little one. Everyone there, they're not the same anymore. Someone let you find this huge crystal and it's going to do the same to your whole city!”

  The door splintered and smashed. Voices yelled from out in the hallway.

  Then the axe started up again, working on the blocks that Prag had put up.

  Myk shook his head.

  “I don't believe you. They found it inside the city. We've never seen anything like it before. We have to study it!”

  “There's no time to explain!” Dav said. “It has to go. Right now.”

  “Smash thing!” Grem said to Prag.

  “No!” the Librarian yelled. He tried to jump in front of the Pakmog but Grem grabbed his arm and held him back.

  “I'm so sorry,” Dav said. “I really am.”

  Myk just glared at him.

  Prag gave it a huge blow with his sword. The crystal made a loud BONG sound, but nothing else happened.

  He grunted and raised his sword up again with both hands and brought it down with all his strength, but the same thing happened again.

  “Maybe if you both do it?” Dav said to Grem.

  Grem shook his head.

  “No good,” he said. “Prag strong guy, that thing not break with sword hit. Even two.”

  “We don't have a lot of time!” Ama yelled from across the room. “They'll be in here soon!”

  Arn and Dav looked at each other.

  “We have to give it a try,” Arn said.

  Dav looked worried.

  “It's going to be a big explosion,” he said. “I don't know what will happen if we're in here.”

  “Explosion?” said Myk. “What are you going to do? We have all our hard work in here! Secrets about making things! It's all written down!” He pointed at a bookshelf stuffed with books and with scribbled sheets of paper.

  “I'm really so sorry,” said Dav. “We have to get rid of the crystal. Look, try to move everything you can across the room, okay?”

  Myk looked furious but he pulled at Grem's arm.

  “Let me go,” he said. “Those notes are the only thing that matter here!”

  Grem looked at Dav, who nodded.

  When Grem let him go, Myk ran straight over to the books and started pulling them off the shelves by the handful and piling them up in his arms.

  Dav looked at Arn.

  “Can you do it?” he said. “Set up the TNT all around the crystal.”

  “Will do,” Arn said and ran to work right away. He took the TNT from the Grem and Prag and started piling it up. There was a shelf near the middle of the crystal so he put some there as well.

  Dav had gone to help Myk. The librarian glared at him, but didn't argue when Dav started grabbing books and papers and running them over to the far wall of the room as well.

  “We've got maybe seconds left!” Ama yelled. She and Kim were crouched down near the doorway, waiting with her bow drawn and arrows ready to go.

  “Done!” yelled Arn.

  “Everyone over here!” Dav said. “Prag, Grem, you need to get over here.”

  They pushed Myk along with them to the far wall and crouched behind a desk. There were still a lot of books on the shelves near the crystal.

  “Not yet!” he yelled. “I need to get them all.”

  “I don't want to do this, really,” Dav said. “But we're out of time. Arn! Set it off!”

  Ama and Kim ran over behind the bench as well. Arn thwacked the top of one of the TNT blocks and it flashed white then started hissing.

  “It's going!” he yelled and jumped behind the bench.

  They could see the faces of the Iron City men through a hole in the door.

  “You need to get down!” Dav yelled at them. “Hurry! There's going to be an exp...”

  Then everything went white. There was a sound so loud that it was too much for their ears, and just pushed against them all like a giant hand. The floor of the building jumped and then the room was filled with smoke and shattered bits of block.

  Arn pulled himself up off of the floor. He was confused about which way around the room worked. Everything looked different now.

  Prag pulled himself up near Arn, and said, “That big boom.”

  His voice was muffled, and Arn could barely hear it.

  The Iron City men! Arn looked wildly around. He couldn't see the door through al the smoke.

  Daylight was coming into the room, though. It was coming from over where the crystal had been. He could see the smoke boiling away out of a huge hole that had appeared in the wall.

  The others all slowly stood up too, looking dazed.

  “Did it work?” Dav said.

  “What have you done?” said Myk. “You've destroyed everything!”

  Kim ran over towards the new hole in the wall. She picked something up off of the ground and held it up.

  It was a shining piece of crystal.

  “We got it!” she said.

  There was no time to celebrate. The explosion must have damaged the door as well, because there was a huge crash, and Iron City villagers started flooding into the room.

  “Run to big hole!” Prag shouted.

  Arn had no idea if there was going to be any way out of it, but it was the only possible escape, so he followed Prag. Grem grabbed Myk and started dragging him along.

  “Let him go!” Dav said.

  “No way,” said Grem. “He stay with us.”

  Myk looked panicked, but Grem pulled him along.

  When Arn got to the hole in the wall he looked out and saw Kim and Ama already standing there on the roof of the next building over. It was just a short jump, so he ran and made the leap. Then Dav, and Grem and Myk, and finally Prag jumped out of the smoking ruins and all landed on the roof with them.

  “We keep running!” Grem said.

  “Where?” said Dav.

  “Away! Dav get good idea he tell us!”

  They ran across the rooftop, through the smoke that was still drifting all around from the explosion. They could hear shouts of the Iron City men behind them.

  Suddenly they were faced with a huge wall blocking their way.

  “Which way we get out?” Grem yelled at Myk.

  The Librarian looked terrified for a moment at the angry Pakmog, but then he seemed to remember something and shook his head.

  “Nowhere,” he said. “We're on the roof of the armoury. That's the City wall in front of us. There's no way down from here. You're stuck.”

  Arn looked back. The smoke was clearing. The shining towers of the city glinted brightly in the sun. He could see villagers looking down at them from lots of windows.

  There were shapes in the smoke, too. It was the Iron City soldiers, coming for them.

  “The wall?” Dav said. “This is the city wall?”

  Myk nodded.

  “No way out. You need to surrender.”

  Grem and Prag hefted their swords.

  “No. Show villagers Pakmog not get caught so easy.”

  “Wait,” said Dav. “Do you have any TNT left?”

  Prag shook his head.

  “I don't. Grem has some.”

  Grem frowned but then gave Dav a big, toothy Pakmog smile.

  “Sure do,” he said. “Grem think he see Dav's plan.”

  “Hurry,” Dav said.

  “You're not going to set it off here?” said Ama.

  “Do you have a better plan?” said Arn.

  “Down there,” said Arn, pointing. “Down the wall a bit.”

  Grem nodded and ran along the wall, while Prag stood in front of them, looking like he was ready to fight all of the Iron City soldiers by himself. None of them had probably ever seen a Pakmog before so they stopped, unsure of what to do.

  Then Grem came running back towards them, as fast as he could go. Which was actually pretty fast.

  “Watch out!” he yelled, “Grem use a lot of...”

  There was another white flash and another explosion almost as big as the first.

  Arm picked himself up off of the ground and looked around. His ears were ringing again. There was dust and smoke everywhere.

  A big hairy arm grabbed him out of nowhere and stood him up. The other arm had Myk the Librarian in it.

  “Go!” Grem yelled at them. “That way!”

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  He pushed them both, and Myk was so stunned that he started running too without even arguing.

  They reached the hole in the wall. There were trees on the other side, but it wasn't too far to jump. Prag and Ama and Dav and Kim all came running out of the smoke, with Grem behind them.

  “Why Arn wait? Jump!” he yelled.

  Dav grabbed Myk's arm.

  “We should let him go!”

  “Not yet!” Grem said. “They not shoot arrows so easy if he here!”

  Without another word the Pakmog picked the Librarian up and slung him over one shoulder.

  “Let me go!” Myk yelped, but it turned into a little scream of terror as Grem jumped out of the hole in the wall with him.

  “Hurry!” Prag yelled at them.

  Arn grabbed Ama.

  “Let's go!”

  They jumped together and hit the ground after a surprisingly short fall. Dav, Kim, and Prag all thumped to the ground beside them.

  Grem was already urging them into the forest.

  “We get lost fast!” he said. “Go in tree things!”

  The forest floor crunched beneath their feet as they wove between the trunks. Myk's muffled protests timed with the rhythm of Grem stomping through the trees. Shouts still echoed behind them.

  Eventually the trees started to thin out, then disappeared. Heat slammed into the group as they hit the desert's edge. Dav squinted at the endless yellow sand.

  "There." Ama pointed north.

  Something jutted from the dunes - it was long and dark and clearly not natural.

  “That's the sky cart,” Myk said, craning his neck to look over Prag's shoulder.

  "Go!" Grem said urgently. They set out again, slogging through the sand.

  "They not chasing us now?" Prag said. There was no sound at all besides their own footsteps and the wind.

  "Will you please put me down!" Myk said with exasperation. "They will be coming, trust me. I'll only help you if stop carrying me like a sack!"

  The Pakmog plopped him onto his feet.

  "Villager too heavy anyway, you walk now. We almost there."

  Arn stared at it. He'd never seen anything like it before. It was some kind of path in the sky, enclosed in glass. Huge stone pillars kept it up, and it just went on and on and on until it disappeared into the distance.

  “What does it do?” said Ama. She was looking at it in confusion.

  Prag and Grem both seemed unimpressed.

  “Look kind of like Fortress at home, but all thin,” said Grem.

  Myk rolled his eyes.

  “It lets you go places faster than walking. Faster than horses even.”

  Dav was already walking up the staircase to the platform.

  “How it do that?” said Prag.

  “You sit down in a... sort of like a box. With wheels. Then it rolls along the tracks.”

  “What if want to go that way?”

  Grem pointed towards the mountains.

  Myk shrugged.

  “I guess you have to build a new sky cart track first.”

  “Grem walk there faster than build Fortress path in sky.”

  “Well yes, I suppose. But if lots of people want to go back and forth all the time...”

  Prag nodded.

  “Not work on ground?”

  “No no, it works fine on the ground. We tried...”

  Then Myk seemed to remember that he was talking to a Underworld creature. He shook his head.

  “Never mind,” he said. “This will take you far away. As fast as you can go, alright?”

  Kim had followed Dav up the stairs. Now she stuck her head over the edge of the platform and looked down at them.

  “Are these things the carts? They're like empty iron boxes on wheels.”

  “That's them,” Myk yelled up at her. “Just get in and hit the switch on the back cart. Don't do it until everyone is there.”

  “And it ends near the Player buildings? The ones with the huge pyramid?”

  “That's it,” said Myk. “In the desert west of there. I guess they stopped making it before they got all the way.”

  Arn looked and Grem and Prag.

  “We let him go now, alright? He's helped us, and nobody is shooting at us right now.”

  Prag growled.

  “We safer if we keep him.”

  But Grem was on Arn's side.

  “We let him go, maybe Iron City men decide we not bad people. Not shoot as soon as they see us.”

  Ama agreed with Grem, and in the end Prag reluctantly nodded.

  “Fine,” he said. “Iron City man go home. Tell them Pakmog not bad guys.”

  Myk shook his head.

  “You blew up half of our Library. You blew a hole in the city wall! What do you expect me to say?”

  Arn sighed.

  “Tell them what we told you. That crystal was a trap. Go see for yourselves. Send someone to the Village of Peace. See what the villagers are like now. That could have been all of you.”

  Dav and Kim had come back down the stairs to them again.

  “I'm so sorry about the library,” he said. “If I could have done anything else...”

  “Dav should be helping you,” Arn said. “He's the smartest villager any of us have ever met.”

  Kim nodded eagerly.

  “It's true,” she said. “This is all wrong. He should be with you, studying. He understands things.”

  The Librarian frowned at them.

  “You'll forgive me if I have some doubts, based on all of this.”

  He waved around at the desert and the Pakmog.

  Dav sighed.

  “I know. I know. We did what we had to do. If there's anything I can do to help fix things, I'll do it. I promise.”

  “Let me go home,” Myk said. “That would be a start.”

  Dav nodded.

  “As soon as we...”

  “Riders!” Ama yelled.

  It was true. They could see a line of horsemen on the horizon.

  “Too many,” Grem said.

  “They've sent everyone they had,” Myk said. He sounded pleased.

  “You big guy there?” Prag said, looking him up and down.

  Myk adjusted his robe.

  “I am the Head Librarian of the Iron City,” he said. “And they will not let the Underworld take me.”

  The horsemen were spread across the horizon, dozens of them. Searching, Arn thought.

  But they had seen them now. The riders were closing ranks, aiming towards the stairs at the Sky Cart.

  “You have to tell them,” Dav said. “You have to tell them about the crystal, about the City of Peace, and the Brother. Please!”

  “If you don't hurry up, you'll get to tell them yourself,” Myk said.

  Ama squinted at the distant riders.

  “Who are the ones wearing red? I've never seen a villager dressed like that before.”

  Myk looked surprised.

  “Red? That's Council colors. They sent some of the Council themselves after you! You must have really scared them.”

  But Prag and Grem were both standing stiffly, staring into the distance as well. They were growling.

  The two Pakmog barked something back and forth at each other, then Grem whirled around.

  “We go now. Bad news. Real bad news.”

  “What is it?” said Arn.

  “Not-men. We see two. Like in Underworld Fortress where we find Kim and Ama.”

  Kim looked up towards the Iron City riders with fear in her eyes.

  “Are you sure? Which ones?”

  “Red guys. For sure.”

  “Are they the fiery ones? Firethralls?”

  Prag grunted.

  “Worse. Lots worse.”

  “What are you talking about?” said Myk. “Those are Council members!”

  Grem made a barking, growling noise.

  “Archon,” he said. “That your word. Those not villagers!”

  “Let's go,” Kim said. She was pale, staring across the desert at the things that were coming towards them.

  “She's right,” Dav said.

  “That what Grem say,” muttered Grem. “Now hurry!”

  “Don't trust those two in red!” Arn said to Myk. “They're not really villagers. That's what the Witch meant. She told us that the Iron City was really working for the Underworld.”

  Myk rolled his eyes.

  “A Witch told you? That's idiotic,” he said. “The Council built the Iron City. They're the reason everything works.”

  “I don't have time to explain,” said Dav. “The Underworld can... replace Villagers. They can make Firethralls and other things look like us.”

  “It's true,” said Kim. “I saw it.”

  “We all saw it,” said Ama. “They were going to turn me into one of those things.”

  Myk shook his head.

  “I'm not going to take the word of Underworld beasts and a Witch and... and you lot... over the Council! I'll have to report all of this, you know.”

  “Prag think Myk smart guy,” the Pakmog said. “Smart thing now is Myk not let Archon know Myk know what they are.”

  The Librarian looked around at them all, and when he spoke there was doubt in his voice. “You can't be serious! They're not really Underworld creatures, are they?”

  Grem bent down and stared right into Myk's face. The Librarian's eyes went wide as the Pakmog breathed on him from inches away.

  “You not believe,” he said, sounding like he was trying to speak as clearly as he could. “You go and tell them what we say. Then you find out for sure.”

  “Right now we need to go!” Arn said. Ama nodded eagerly.

  The two Pakmog gave Myk one last look and then headed up the stairs.

  Myk stared after them, looking lost. Then he turned to face the riders.

  “Please be careful,” Dav said to him, then headed up the stairs.

  “Let's go,” Arn said to Ama, and the two of them ran up the stairs as well, leaving him behind.

  The sky carts lurched forward with a metallic groan, accelerating along the glass-enclosed track. Arn gripped the iron handrail as the desert blurred beneath them, sunlight flashing as they passed pillar after pillar. It was a strange sight, seeing the ground below them change so quickly - even the jungle far in the distance was actually shifting while they watched.

  It went on and on for a surprisingly long way, and the outline of the Iron City behind them slowly faded away.

  "Look!" Dav pressed against the glass, eyes wide. The tracks ended abruptly ahead at a crumbled platform hovering high above the sands.

  Grem roared a warning, but the carts carried them screaming toward the drop. Finally they screeched to a halt, coming to a sudden stop at the edge.

  Silence fell as the group stared at their destination. In the distance ahead the tall player buildings glimmered like a forest of glass. Below, the desert sands still stretched out.

  The sun was setting. Arn looked down at the dark desert, and across towards the lights of the tall Player buildings in the distance. The pyramid was bright and sharp in the growing night.

  “Mobs out soon,” he said.

  Kim sat down in a corner of the platform.

  “This looks like a nice spot to me. Lots of light, high up off the ground. As long as we keep an eye on the stairs I think this is a great spot to sleep.”

  Grem and Prag agreed.

  “Pakmog tired too,” Grem said. “Too much stuff going on.”

  “Usually more boring in cave,” Prag said.

  “Is that good or bad?” said Dav.

  Grem shrugged.

  “Like I say before. Make good story if we go home alive. Maybe big story, one everyone tell.”

  Prag grunted.

  “Prag be okay with boring stuff for a long time after that,” he said.

  They set up a few torches on the stairs to keep the mobs away, then settled down to sleep. Arn stared out into the desert night. He could see that Dav was watching the Sky Cart track, looking back along the tracks towards the Iron City.

  “We saved them all, even if they don’t know it,” he said quietly to Dav.

  Dav nodded.

  “I know. We did the right thing. I just wish it could have been different.”

  “They’re still in danger. Those things – the Void Archons. They’re really the ones in charge at the Iron City.”

  “It’s all I can think about,” Dav said. “I don’t know what to do.”

  Arn sighed and rolled onto his back, staring up at the stars.

  “We'll think better if we get some rest, probably."

  Dav didn't look convinced, but he didn't argue.

  They must have fallen asleep though, because in a blink, Arn woke to the noise coming up the stairs. It was shuffling feet.

  He jumped up, and scrambled around looking for his sword.

  Need to keep it somewhere I can find it!

  Then he realized that Grem and Prag weren’t sleeping. They had heard it too.

  They were crouching near the stairs, swords drawn.

  “Mobs?” Arn whispered.

  Prag shook his head and motioned for Arn to be ready.

  I’ve never actually had to fight anything. Not for real.

  The others were all asleep. It was just him and the two Pakmog.

  The shuffling feet were getting closer to the Sky Cart platform. Arn thought he could hear heavy breathing as well. He hoped it was just a stupid dustman.

  Then the noise stopped.

  Whatever it was, it had to be standing still.

  Listening, maybe.

  He looked at the Pakmog, and shrugged his shoulders.

  What do we do?

  Grem put a finger to his lips.

  Arn be quiet, is what it probably meant.

  The night was totally silent. Nothing moved, nothing happened.

  In fact, Arn realized, he couldn’t even hear regular nighttime noises like sheep or maybe a spider shuffling around down below. There was nothing at all. That didn’t seem right.

  He looked at the Pakmog again and pointed to his ears, then shook his head. Grem looked back at him like he was crazy, and did the finger-to-lips move again.

  Nothing. No sound at all.

  This isn’t right. This is something different.

  When the voice finally spoke, it was so sudden and unexpected that Arn nearly dropped his sword.

  “Alright,” it said. It was a creaky old voice, and it sounded annoyed. “I can hear you waiting for me. Don’t do anything stupid when I get up there.”

  Grem looked at Arn.

  I guess they want me to talk.

  “Who are...” he started to say.

  Then the night exploded in green light.

  The Pakmog both jumped back, away from the ball of light that had burst up from the stairway.

  Dav and Kim and Ama were all awake now, staring around in shock.

  The creaky old voice spoke up again.

  "Everything is fine, don't worry," it said.

  Prag growled and crouched down.

  "Easy say, don't be worried," he said.

  The voice sounded testy.

  "I only wanted you two away from the stairs," it said. "Last thing I needed was one of you trying to stab me."

  "Who's there?" Dav finally spoke up. "Who are you?"

  "Aha, finally someone starts talking sense," said the voice.

  "Great," said Kim. "Maybe you could do the same. Who are you?"

  "Hold on girl, hold on, I'm coming. It's not so easy with all these steps."

  Arn and Dav looked at each other. Dav shrugged.

  There was more shuffling on the stairs and then a pointy hat poked up above the landing.

  "Witch," Grem growled.

  "Good eyes," said the Witch. She finally came all the way up and stood on the platform with them.

  "What Witch want?" Prag said.

  "Personally, this Witch would like you to lower your sword."

  Ama motioned at Prag and he slowly put his blade away again. Grem looked doubtful but then he did the same.

  “I’m Arn,” Arn said. He pointed around at the others, introducing them, hoping to defuse some of the tension.

  "Rakina," the Witch said. "That's my name. Does it help you to know that?"

  "Well," Arn said, "I suppose not."

  The witch just shook her head.

  "I'm here to help you."

  "Witch in village before didn't help much," Grem said.

  "She did what she could. I've had more experience dealing with villagers. It's a little easier for me."

  "Wait," said Dav. "What do you want to help us with?"

  He sounded suspicious.

  Arn had to agree. It felt like witches helping only meant more trouble and danger, instead of actual help.

  "The Nyloc are still after the power buried in the fortress. So is the Underworld. You can't let either of them have it."

  "We can't?" Ama said. "Okay. So what are we supposed to do against all of them?"

  Kim nodded.

  "There's six of us. That's against a whole city plus whatever those Nyloc things are."

  Grem and Prag grumbled at each other.

  "Pakmog agree," Grem said. "Witches still say go do thing. Two Pakmog strong, but not against all those things."

  "You have something none of them has," said the witch. She cackled, looking around at them.

  "We do?" said Dav. "What's that exactly?"

  "What I'm going to tell you," she said. "That there's another way in. One they don’t know about."

  "You know a way in?" said Ama. "So why don't you use it?"

  The witch rolled her eyes.

  "What a good idea!" she said. "Why didn't we think of that? I guess I'll be going now."

  She frowned and stared back at Ama.

  "So I guess it's something you can't do," Dav said. "Something you need us for."

  "We can't let them have the power that's buried in the stronghold. But that's right, the way cannot be used by us. So we must let villagers take it."

  "Wait," said Dav. "What is it? What's down there? What power is it that everyone is looking for?"

  The witch stared hard at Dav. She looked impatient, like she just wanted them to shut up and do as they were told. But Dav's expression of polite interest in her answer was having its usual effect. Apparently he could even make Witches feel like it would be rude not to explain.

  She sighed and pointed out into the night.

  "The players. They're gone. They've been gone for as long as anyone can remember."

  Dav nodded.

  "Only not quite," he said. He pulled out his sword and held it up. "This is something villagers don't do. It's something players did."

  "Like making things," said Arn. "That's something new."

  He could feel the shape of an answer forming in his head, but he still couldn't see the whole thing.

  The Witch nodded.

  "It was left for us when we were ready, just as the maker power was."

  "By the players?"

  The Witch grinned her twisted and wrinkly grin.

  "Answer that and you'll know more than me, boy. But now the world is ready for the next kind of power. Or maybe not ready exactly, but it's coming all the same."

  Dav's eyes went wide.

  "You don't know either," he said. "You know it's there, but you don't really know what it is."

  The Witch's eyes sparkled coldly at him.

  "I can guess," she said. "Do I know? Not exactly, no. But it is certainly stronger than the maker power. Will you let the Underworld take it? Do you think they will share it?"

  Grem snorted.

  "Witches just say to villagers, here, we nice, you take it?

  She scowled at him.

  "Better them than the Archons. I'd think even Pakmog would know that much."

  Grem grunted, but still looked suspicious.