Free Green by Laura Peyton Roberts Page B

keep up with him, stumbling over rocks and roots in the dark. "When are we going to stop?"
    "Top o' this ridge ought to do it. And by all means, lass, keep to thrashing about like a wounded elephant. Every creature for ten leagues knows we're out here now."
    A low-hanging branch slapped me in the face. Shrieking,
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    I flailed through its foliage until I realized I wasn't actually under attack.
    "You can take a thing too far," Cain said dryly.
    "I can't see! I have to light one of my candles."
    "It'll just blow out, won't it? That is, if you don't set the whole woods alight. The moon will be out soon enough."
    "How does that help me? I'm going to break a leg now ."
    Cain exhaled impatiently somewhere near my knees. "How do humans get through a day?"
    "Mostly in daylight," I retorted.
    The woods went totally silent. Of all the times to think of a comeback! I berated myself, horrified. If he gets mad and abandons me here ...
    And then a hearty laugh boomed out of the darkness. "In daylight, indeed! Well parried, lass."
    "So ... um ... Should I light that candle?" I ventured.
    A green light blazed up on the forest floor. Cain's wide mustache and tall hat were thrown into eerie relief as he straightened up over a miniature camping lantern.
    "You had a lantern all this time?" I demanded. "Why didn't you break it out before?"
    "The fuel only lasts a wee bit, doesn't it? I was saving it for something important."
    "Breaking my neck isn't important?"
    Cain gave me a pitying look and struck off through the woods, leaving me to pick up the lantern and follow. He
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    seemed to see fine without it, quickly outstriding its small circle of light while I poked along cautiously behind him.
    At first I was glad just to be able to see again. Then the shadows behind every rock, trunk, and branch started looking creepy. They moved with each swing of the lantern, making me even more nervous.
    If I do catch a pisky, I'll wish for it to send me home! I thought, my first hint of actual enthusiasm for the project encouraging me to walk faster.
    Somewhere in the distance, an animal howled. "Cain?" I called, freezing in place. He didn't answer. "Cain!"
    Branches stretched toward me like bony fingers. The creature howled again, closer.
    "Cain!"
    A light winked on up ahead. I sprinted toward it, vaulting rocks and roots, my lantern swinging wildly. In a sheltered nook against a cracked boulder, Cain was building a campfire.
    "You're an odd one, aren't you?" he remarked as I collapsed, panting, in the dirt. "I guess it's to be expected. Most initiates come to trial with the old keeper to guide them. You're having to learn it all the hard way."
    "Yes!" I said, amazed that the only one who got it was the dude with the Yosemite Sam 'stache. "Everyone expects me to know everything and no one tells me squat!"
    "Well, you're lucky I won the shooting today, because
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    catching a spotted pisky is no small thing. I'm one o' very few living who knows how it's done."
    Relief swelled my lungs. "You do? Have you done it before?"
    "Well now, not exactly. Bit illegal, isn't it? But tales get passed down over ale--and I've been listening my whole life. Piskies have wild magic, Lil, magic that gets a body's attention."
    "Aren't leprechauns magical too?"
    Cain sighed. "Not all o' us. Scarce one or two in a generation is born with the touch, and usually only enough to handle a magic mirror or a tricky bit o' cobbling. Master cobblers, leprechauns are, but the last great magician was Donal Green. Ach, he was a mighty one, Lil--created the keeps and security spells for all five clans. But even Donal was no match for a pisky. Leprechaun magic, see, it's all connected to gold. Only gold bows to our bidding. But piskies! Aside from not being able to break existing spells, their magic is wicked strong. Strong and dangerous."
    I couldn't say I found that reassuring. "So why are you helping me? I don't have much choice, but you didn't have to sign up for this."
    "Plenty o' honor