Free Emerald Hell by Mike Mignola Page A

loomed over Lament and decided to brace him. “What are you doing out here?”
    Swallowing a bite of food, Lament said, “Same thing as you, I reckon.”
    â€œYou have no idea what I’m about.”
    â€œThat ain’t rightly true, son.”
    â€œHow about if you lay it on the line? You people talk pretty but you take up a lot of air before you actually get around to saying anything much. I’m in a hurry.”
    â€œAre you?”
    Thinking about the time he’d killed on his way down south, hitching and brooding, alone with his thoughts and his bad mood, Hellboy realized he hadn’t been in a rush to do much of anything. It had been okay to put all the miles behind him, wet in the rain. But now it was different. There were teenage girls lost out there, and he wanted to make certain they were safe before he called it a day.
    â€œYeah,” he said. “I am. So how about you answer my question. What are you doing out here?”
    â€œI did answer. You just ain’t in the mind to hear.”
    Lament finished the meat on the spit and threw the remainder into the fire. He lifted his mouth-harp to his lips and played a bit more, somehow making the song sound pretty. Hellboy wouldn’t have thought it possible, strumming a rubber band and making music.
    When Lament finished he sighed hard enough to fan the fire. “I’m here to save my Sarah from harm, and them other girls swole with children too. Same as you, ain’t that the case? ’Cept none of this is your burden.”
    â€œYou need help, so I’m here.”
    â€œWell, if you’re of a like mind and want in with my task and purpose, I could use a friend. You want out, I can point you the way any time you like. Fair ’nuff?”
    Hellboy decided it was. “Fair enough.” He sat at the fire and looked around, then spotted a rucksack. “I don’t suppose you have a candy bar or a bag of pretzels you could share, now do you?”
    â€œCaught some catfish earlier, if you want a taste.”
    Hellboy grimaced. “Christ, not with the catfish again.”
    Bull gators roared in the distance, the loons cried into the night. Reflections from a dozen peering eyes made Hellboy turn and turn again. The tension rose within him once more and the muscles in his back tightened. “Shouldn’t we keep going, make sure Sarah and the others are all right out there?”
    Lament said, “There ain’t a critter anywhere in this swamp that can get the drop on her. She been out in these marsh prairies since she was baptized. In fact, it happened right here, on this basin. The holy spirit visitin’ her.”
    â€œHow do you know?”
    â€œHow do you think, son? Because I was there.” He then pointed to a patch of flattened weeds and a few strewn rocks nearby. “They made camp here a day or so ago.”
    â€œFor someone who claims he wants to save those girls, you don’t seem too worried about them.”
    â€œI am,” Lament said. “But it’s a loser’s game to stumble about in the dark on the blackwater.”
    Hellboy thought, Did he just call me a loser? “Hey, pal—”
    â€œYou already shovin’ your luck just by not already bein’ gator bait. You travel any farther at night and ain’t nobody ever gonna see your princely face again. Like I said, Sarah knows these waters better than damn near anybody in Enigma. The man who raised her wrassled gators out in these parts, and used to head up the swamp tent revivals and the all-night gospel sings.”
    â€œYou’re from here.”
    â€œI been adrift all over.”
    â€œBut you know Enigma.”
    â€œI know Enigma.”
    â€œThere’s someone else after her. Sarah and the girls.”
    â€œAyup.”
    â€œYou know him?”
    â€œI know him.”
    â€œWhat if that guy doesn’t camp tonight?”
    â€œThen he’ll probably be