I ducked under a branch, still holding out the flowers. “I brought these for you. A trade, a gift—either way, I’d like you to have them.”
“Yes. Kindness. So very few people approach me with kindness. It is a nice change.” Clearly Austin and Damarion needed to work on their people skills, which was rich, coming from me. “Unfortunately, I do not accept gifts from strangers. It makes one feel indebted, and that is not a nice feeling.”
I wasn’t sure where to go from there, so I lowered the flowers, too scared to drop them in case he thought that was some sort of offense.
“How did those mages rope you into guarding me?” I asked as we made our way, although my breath was coming quickly because I had to jog to keep up with his large strides.
“They entered the caves and lodged their prisoner. That act summoned me. I may not like the duty, but it is mine. I cannot find a way to get out of it.”
“Right but…what if the prisoner isn’t someone who did something bad? What if they were kidnapped, like me?”
“I do not pass judgment. I solely guard my charge.”
“You guard your charge… In situations like that, maybe instead of guarding the charge for the kidnappers, you could guard them from the kidnappers?”
He looked down on me, not caring when a tree branch slid over his face. “That is a fun play on words, but that is not my duty.”
“So…just so I’m clear, you don’t have a duty to put me back in that cage?”
“The cage is broken.”
“If it weren’t?”
“No. You are not a prisoner. I do not have to guard you. The rules are pretty clear on that point.”
We roamed down the mountain, traipsing through brush and bushes, weaving through large tree branches, and ignoring the deer and hiking trails that would make travel so much easier. A half-hour in, just as I was about to ask how much further we had to go, he slowed and turned, veering around a rock outcropping and stopping in front of a large stone slab. Trees pressed in on all sides, creating a blind.
I waited for him to speak. He stared down at me, not doing so.
“Is this it?” I asked dumbly.
“Yes.”
“We found this rock,” Damarion said, pushing forward.
The basajaun bristled, and his arms lifted just slightly away from his sides, like a bro in a bar getting ready to fight. “If you found this rock and did not find the way in, you are incredibly stupid.”
“That means something, coming from him,” Mr. Tom said.
“Walk through, Jessie.” Niamh motioned me on. “’Tis a pretty standard illusion. A good one, don’t get me wrong, but easy enough to find if ye know what ye’re lookin’ for. That rock has the shape of a door and doesn’t blend in with the rocks around it, and take a look at the edges there, where they meet the natural rock. See how they are frayed, like fabric?”
I did see that, as well as a strange sheen that reminded me of the magical barrier I had to plunge through in my gargoyle form.
“Just walk through,” Niamh said again. “Or, better yet, have Earl do it. Give him a purpose.”
“A purpose? I’ve been the only one speaking sense this whole time.” Mr. Tom stepped forward, but I put my hand out to keep him back before passing off the flowers to the basajaun to hold.
“Given no trade has been initiated, I’ll just put these down here for you.” The basajaun placed them in a little nook at the very edge of the tree-sheltered area, protected on one side by the rockface creating this area of the mountain, and on the other by a large boulder. He swooshed his hands, shepherding a pine cone and some leaves and pine needles in front of the bouquet to mask the colors, the objects moving without him actually touching them. Neat trick. There was more to him than just height, nose, and hair.
Austin stepped forward as I approached the large slab, palms up and out. The basajaun bristled again, but I shook my head at him.
“He doesn’t mean you any harm. He’s here to help protect me and our town, and Ivy House’s beautiful gardens. Neither of us would do anything to hurt your mountain.” I gritted my teeth as my palms neared the rockface. “Let’s hope this doesn’t burn.”
“Oh no, it does not burn. Tickles, mostly.” The basajaun continued to stand near the masked flowers.
“Our voices aren’t echoing through that cave right now, right?” I whispered, the situation catching up to me. Those mages could still be in there.
“No. You will not hear anything of the outside world once you are in the cave,” the basajaun answered, “and vice versa. It is magically sealed.”
“Why?” I asked, not raising my voice beyond the whisper.