[Anita Blake Collection] - Strange Candy by Laurell K. Hamilton Page A

sacrifice women to Her altar?”
    â€œIt is a matter of theological interpretation.”
    â€œInterpretation?”
    â€œYes.” She seemed reluctant to speak further, so I let the subject drop. Celandine was not happy that I could argue her into a corner using her own sacred tomes. The black road erupted from the damp meadow grass without marker or warning. It seemed to be made of solid rock, black as if the earth had bled. Legend said that Pelrith of the Red Eye forged the road. And seeing it lying there on the shore of the lake, I believed in demigods calling things forth from the earth. I urged Ulliam forward.
    The moment his hooves hit the road, I felt it. The road was dead; no earth-magic sang through it. The horse Celandine was leading shied at the black surface. I moved Ulliam to calm it before the horse she was riding could bolt as well. We rode into Lolth three abreast, with the skittish horse in the middle.
    I noticed bumps in the smooth surface of the road, but there was no pattern to them. I dismounted and walked Ulliam until I came to a bump that seemed higher than the others. I knelt and ran a mailed hand over the blackened lump. My eyes could not puzzle it out at first, then suddenly, itwas clear. A human skull gaped from the road, barely covered in the black rocklike stuff. And I could not force the image from my mind.
    Celandine called, “What is it?”
    â€œBones. Human bones.”
    She made the sign against evil again.
    I mounted Ulliam, and we rode on. My eyes were drawn with a horrible fascination to each half-hidden shape as we rode. We traveled on the burial mound of hundreds.
    We came to the border guard then. There were only four of them, but two shone magic to my eyes. And I knew that I shone as well. But there was nothing illegal about being a wizard; at least I didn’t think there was. A female wizard might have been stopped, but healers do not shine like wizards. Celandine would seem merely a woman until she healed someone. When she laid hands, she glowed like the full moon.
    One man came from behind the wooden gate. He stood in front of me. “Well, you must be an ice elf.”
    It was a rather rude way to begin, but I had been prepared for that. It was a killing insult in Varell, but I had been five years from there. It wasn’t the first time someone had called me elf to my face. It would not be the last. “I am Bevhinn Ailir, and this is my wife, Celandine.”
    His eyes turned to the healer, and he said, “Oh. She’s a beauty.” He walked over to her and put a hand on her knee, massaging it. Celandine glared at him.
    The hand began to creep up her thigh, and she yanked her horse backward. It bumped the man, and he backed away smiling. He said, “You could make money off this one. She would bring a fair price every night you stay in our country.”
    â€œShe is a wife, not a whore.”
    He shrugged. “There isn’t that much difference, now, is there?”
    â€œThere is where I come from.”
    â€œYes, the Varellians and their reverence for females. You and your queen.”
    I had had about enough of this. “Can we pass, or must we stand here and be insulted?”
    He frowned at that and said, “I’d keep that fancy armor hidden. There are those who would take it from you.”
    I smiled at him, forcing him to stare into my alien eyes. “It is good armor, but surely men aren’t eager to die for a suit of armor they would never fit into.”
    He returned the smile and said, “I would love to see one of your Varellian women. You’re pretty enough to eat yourself.”
    I said, voice low, “Your two friends over there can tell you I’m a wizard. And this wizard has grown very tired of you.” I flexed a hand for dramatic emphasis, and he backed away. Truth was, an earth-witch wasn’t big on instant magic, but they didn’t know that. With my power tied to the spring, I