Free User Unfriendly by Vivian Vande Velde Page B

no new dangers, no clues, nor objects we'd need for later on in our quest—we pushed the horses to the limit.
    No, take that back.
    We pushed Mom to her limit. She ended up riding double with Thea, afraid she'd pass out or get jostled off.
    We slowed when we got back to the road, to the previous day's ambush site. Cornelius's Wizards' Lightning had taken down branches and gouged trees and scorched the ground. The air was still smoky from it. Smoky and ... more. The bandits had abandoned their dead companions. An afternoon and a morning out there, and already the bodies gave off the stink of meat gone bad. Combined with the smoke, the effect was of a particularly sinister barbecue.
    Robin was eyeing a body that was lying half on the road, like he was wondering what was in the guy's pockets.
    "Don't even think of it," I warned. I didn't want to look at some one-day-dead guy's face.
    Mom went back to her own horse. Now that we were on unfamiliar ground, we traveled more slowly. Besides, if anything happened that we had to try to outrun somebody—or something—any horse carrying double would be the first to falter. That's how come Mom had ended up with Thea anyway. Thea was the smallest and the least burden to her mount to begin with. Being an elf, I was the smallest of the men, and I'd been just about to offer to have Mom come over with me, when she announced she was well enough to go on her own.
    Sure, I thought, as long as we kept the horses to a slow walk.
    Midafternoon Thea suddenly said, "What's that up ahead?"
    I sniffed the air. "Smoke."
    She gave me a dirty look.
    A small fire, 1 judged by the smell of it, and by the tiny gray wisp I could see between the treetops. The clean smell of nothing more than wood burning.
    "Probably a campfire," Robin said. My thought exactly. I got out my new crossbow anyway.
    We advanced cautiously.
    The trees thinned. We came to a clearing and found a wooden cottage. The smoke was coming from a chimney. Nobody in sight.
    Robin dismounted, taking his bow and quiver with him.
    "Harek, maybe you better stay here," Thea said in a whisper. She glanced from my mother to me. Obviously Mom would be no good to anybody if we had to fight. Just as obviously she shouldn't be left on her own. I was going to stay, but Mom said, "We can't keep fragmenting." Swaying slightly, she got off her horse. She even brought out her slingshot.
    We left the horses under cover of the trees and approached the cottage. Thea and I were first, then Cornelius, then Mom, Robin in the rear.
    I pressed my ear to the door but could hear nothing. I held up three fingers to Thea. She was better about it than Robin had been. She waited for me to mouth the words
One, two, three,
then the two of us kicked in the door.

13. THE STATUE

    The door burst inward with a splintering sound. I had my crossbow leveled and cocked. Next to me, Thea held her broadsword ready. Cornelius had his arms raised, positioned to let fly with Wizards' Lightning. Mom was crouched behind him with her slingshot, her lips thin and pale, her dark eyes sparkling feverishly. She'd been in no state to care about her appearance over the last two days, and her gypsy hair had become a wild halo of frizzy curls. If you hadn't known her, she might have passed as grim—fanatical even. Behind her, Robin had his longbow drawn, a green-fletched arrow notched.
    Facing us, a little old man sat at a table. He paused, his spoon halfway between his bowl and his open mouth. A nasty grayish brown broth dripped off his chin
splat! splat!
back into the bowl as he gaped at us.
    I checked around the room. It was dark, since there was only one window, but so bare—fireplace by the far wall, bedding in one corner, a storage chest, the table—that it was immediately obvious the old man was alone.
    "You broke my door," he said. He was hard to understand because he only had two, maybe three teeth, and he still had a mouthful of soup. Beans and onions by the smell of it.
    "Ahhhmmm,"