Page 11

Tuonen

The Referee

The Bone Match was a success, one of the most entertaining games I’ve seen lately. The loser went in quite the way too; the other skeleton pulled off his own femur and, while balancing on one leg, managed to swing it like a bat, knocking the opponent’s head clean off. It went soaring into the stands with a shriek that carried throughout the stadium and ended up in a spectator’s arms. Naturally, everyone around him wanted the decapitated head too, and a fight to the death broke out, sending more of the Inmost dwellers to Oblivion. In the end, someone walked away a victor, numerous skulls in their possession.

As soon as the match was over, I expected my father and his new bride to make an announcement while they still had an audience. Hanna had been introduced to the crowd earlier, but I had assumed my father would later make a speech to unite the dead of Inmost to his side. It was part of why tonight was so important to him.

But that’s not what happened. In fact, I can’t even find my father at all, or Hanna, for that matter. The moment the victor walked away with his trophies, the crowd started to disperse,albeit reluctantly (these matches are really the only things these poor fucks have to look forward to), and their seats in the stands sit empty.

“Have you seen my father?” I ask Tapio, God of the Forest. He’s just getting to his feet with his wife and daughter, a few pieces of popcorn hanging in his gray beard alongside the usual leaves and twigs. The small, sniffing nose of a mouse makes an appearance before retreating into the thicket of his hair.

“I haven’t,” he says with a frown, looking around me at the empty seats. “I assume we’ll meet back where we first came in.”

“He’s not there,” I tell him. “Neither is Hanna.”

Tapio’s wife laughs. “Tuonen, perhaps it’s best you don’t pry into their business too much. They are still newlyweds, after all.”

I grimace in disgust at that and walk up the stairs to the landing at the top of the arena where Sarvi stands, moving their head back and forth, scouring the area.

“Sarvi,” I say to the unicorn, “have you seen my father or Hanna?”

They fix their white eye on me, tail swishing.I was just about to find you and ask you the same thing. I haven’t seen them, but that doesn’t mean much, does it? Wouldn’t be the first time that they’ve made their company wait.

Sarvi’s tone is humorless; I can tell the unicorn is edgy, and I feel the same way. I can’t really explain why I’m so worried when I’m sure they’ll turn up at any moment, Hanna looking flushed, my father looking cocky, but I have a sharp kernel of unease in my gut that’s getting harder to ignore.

Oh, there’s Hanna now, Sarvi says, and I look over to see Hanna coming out of the caverns toward us.

She doesn’t look flushed at all. Instead, her eyes seem darker than normal, her posture stiff.

“Are we ready to go?” she asks, a strange formality to her tone. She’s asking me directly, ignoring Sarvi.

“Where’s my father?” I ask.

“He’s held up at the moment,” she says, smoothing out her gown. “He wanted to spend some time in the dungeons finding new members for the army. He told us to go back to the castle without him.”

Sarvi’s tail swishes faster.That doesn’t sound like something he would say.

Hanna shrugs and gives Sarvi a stiff smile, though I notice she doesn’t look at the unicorn for too long. I don’t know Hanna well at all, but perhaps there is bad blood between them.

“If you want to go to the dungeons and see for yourself, go right ahead,” she says in a clipped voice. “But I want to get back to Shadow’s End. I’m tired. Come on, Tuonen.”

She reaches out and takes my arm, trying to lead me along, but I stop.

“I’ll catch up,” I tell her. “You better gather the rest of the guests.”

“The rest of the guests?” she asks, brows raised.

I frown at her. “Yes. The Forest God’s family.”

Her eyes widen for a moment, and she nods. “Yes, of course. Them.”

She turns and walks toward Tapio and his wife and daughter, who are at the top of the stairs, staring at us.

That was very peculiar, Sarvi muses.I could have sworn Hanna decided she was anti-unicorn suddenly. Is it my breath?

I shake my head absently, still watching her as she talks to Tapio.

“She seems different somehow,” I say quietly. “But I suppose it’s not that unheard of for my father to spend time in the dungeons. He has been going on about building a bigger army.”