Free Bones of the Past (Arhel) by Holly Lisle

wily, crafty eyes set high on lean, long-muzzled faces that bore a variety of toothy grins.
    Fat Girl swallowed hard. Her mouth was suddenly dry, but the palms of her hands sweated.
    “We could each take one building,” Fat Girl said. “That way we could get done faster.”
    Dog Nose looked at her as if she had eaten white fern and was babbling in the throes of fern-madness. “I don’t think so,” he finally answered.
    She felt relieved. “Which building first, then?”
    He held out a closed fist “Rocks, bones, and roots—winner picks.”
    “Yes. That will work.”
    “Ready?” Dog Nose looked away for an instant, into the flock of grinning stone faces, and cringed visibly.
    Fat Girl held out her own closed fist. “Ready.”
    “Rocks break bones,” they said together.
    “Bones dig roots.
    “Roots crumble rocks—one—two—three!”
    Seven-Fingered Fat Girl held her hand outspread.
    Dog Nose displayed a closed fist. He grinned. “Roots crumble rocks—you win.”
    “Well enough. That one.” She pointed to the larger of the two buildings, the one on her right. Best, she thought to get the worst over with first—it left less to worry about.
    Dog Nose nodded and took her hand. “Fast,” he said in a suddenly low, hoarse voice.
    “Yes,” she agreed, and tensed. “Now!”
    They bolted down the path, between the towering ranks of monsters. Fat Girl imagined she felt the huge beasts’ breath on the back of her neck and ran faster. Dog Nose paced her, neither in front nor behind. The two of them practically flew up the ramp and between the carved stone pillars into the huge, dark interior of the building. As one, they flung themselves against the closest wall and crouched, breathing hard.
    Slowly, Fat Girl’s eyes adjusted to the relative darkness inside. At first, it seemed that she had led the two of them into another entrance to the caves—what appeared to be paths split in front of her in a handful of directions. But as the darkness became less confusing, she realized the paths were rows of huge shelves like the ones that grew inside the trees of the Silk People. But these shelves were stone, carved with strange, twisty designs on the sides and decorated with little slashes and dots along each base. Slabs of some sort rested edge-on from the floor to the ceiling, filling every available nook.
    There were no big monsters inside the building—at least, not that Fat Girl could see from her limited vantage point against the wall.
    “What is this place?” Dog Nose asked.
    Fat Girl laughed. “I don’t know. What do you think?”
    Dog Nose shook his head and spread his hands out, palms up.
    “Then let’s see what’s stacked on the shelves.”
    They crept to the nearest shelf, trying to watch in all directions at once, wary of creeping monsters. Fat Girl tugged and struggled with a slab. It came loose suddenly, and she staggered back. It was lighter than she expected, but bulky and awkward—almost as long as her torso, and somewhat wider. The slab was hard as stone, but thin, with a silky texture—smooth and white. When she tapped it with her fingernail, it rang slightly. She held it up to the light that worked its way in from the high, slit openings in the wall. She could see the shadow of her hand through the slab.
    “Take out another one,” she told Dog Nose.
    He worked loose a slab from farther down the line, and held it out to her. She compared the two.
    Both were covered with slashes and dots carved in rows on one side, but the patterns were different. She compared the marks to those carved into the shelves and picked out many that matched.
    She put the slab she held down and wrapped her arms around herself, hugging herself and bouncing slightly on the balls of her feet while a broad grin spread across her face. Her whole body tingled. She wanted to shout, or scream, or run in circles until she got dizzy and fell down.
    “What is it?” Dog Nose asked.
    “It’s something we can trade.”