either side trembled, and Janner saw one of the Fangs lose its footing and fall. The bridge that had stood for a thousand years crumbled into a thousand pieces.
Nugget sprang off the troll as it fell and landed with his upper half on the opposite tower where the Fangs gathered. His back legs scrabbled at the side of the rock but found no purchase, while above him the Fangs battered his face and front paws with their swords and spears. Nugget bit and barked and growled. Fang after Fang screamed and fell from the wall as the dog struggled, but more Fangs appeared, with more weapons and more determination to push the dog from the tower.
Janner felt a sob rise from his gut and tear from his lips, and then came the sound of Leeli somewhere behind him, screaming Nugget’s name. She had crawled up the steps to the tower with a look of pale shock on her face.
Nugget twisted a Fang’s leg in his mouth and pulled the creature from the wall. Wounds covered his face and forelegs. He turned his great, shaggy, bleeding head and looked at Leeli. She crawled past Janner, sobbing, reaching for her dearest friend across the empty space where the bridge had been.
Nugget barked one last time, a big, gentle sound that echoed off the stone and water of Fingap Falls. Janner saw a change in Nugget’s face at the last jab from a Fang spear, a tired but contented look that made him believe the brave dog would fall to the sea happy, knowing he had saved Leeli from harm one last time.
And then Nugget was gone.
15
A Song for Nugget the Brave
J anner didn’t watch him fall. His eyes closed so that the wet stone beneath his hands, the cold wind, the howls of triumph from the Fangs, his little sister’s wailing were all he knew.
Podo lifted Leeli over his shoulder and carried his granddaughter away, dragging Janner by the shirt collar as he went. Janner’s eyes opened, his vision blurred with tears. He ran down the steps behind Podo, noting with detachment the looks of confusion and surprise on Nia’s, Tink’s, and Oskar’s faces.
They climbed the bank slowly, dragging heavy hearts. No one uttered a word, no one looked back to see if the Fangs had found a way to cross the gap.
After a long, winding climb over gravel and boulder, the Igibys, Podo, and Oskar reached level ground. Soft green grass stretched before them for a short distance before the trees of the forest gathered into a green wall. They stood in a clearing roughly the size of the Glipwood Township, an oasis of open space surrounded by glipwood trees.
The area was littered with large stones, but they weren’t the rounded boulders of the falls. They were squared, stacked in places, and overgrown with weeds. Beneath the grass, the trail they followed up from the river became a cobbled roadway, the stones the ruins of a cluster of buildings.
Leeli fell to the grass and wept.
“I’m afraid to say it,” Podo said hoarsely, “but we might be safe. Look.”
Janner and Tink stood beside Podo and looked down. From their vantage point they saw all of Fingap Falls arrayed before them. To the right flowed the white water of the Mighty Blapp, snaking into the mist of the upper falls. Below it jutted the shelf that caught the waters in its giant palm. The bridges spanning the five towers looked as thin as ribbons. At the fourth, of course, there was no longer a bridge, and the surface of the tower was clogged with the tiny movements of Fangs in retreat.
Janner could hardly believe he had just crossed such a precarious distance; in fact, he could hardly believe such a place existed at all.
He turned to see Oskar and Nia lift Leeli and walk her to a stone bench. Nia held Leeli’s head to her chest and rocked to and fro while Oskar patted her back. Leeli cried.
Janner remembered the day at the cottage when she thought the Fangs had killed Nugget. She had cried little and soon grown silent. That had been far more worrisome to him than the way Leeli now wept. She seemed older, no
Nugget sprang off the troll as it fell and landed with his upper half on the opposite tower where the Fangs gathered. His back legs scrabbled at the side of the rock but found no purchase, while above him the Fangs battered his face and front paws with their swords and spears. Nugget bit and barked and growled. Fang after Fang screamed and fell from the wall as the dog struggled, but more Fangs appeared, with more weapons and more determination to push the dog from the tower.
Janner felt a sob rise from his gut and tear from his lips, and then came the sound of Leeli somewhere behind him, screaming Nugget’s name. She had crawled up the steps to the tower with a look of pale shock on her face.
Nugget twisted a Fang’s leg in his mouth and pulled the creature from the wall. Wounds covered his face and forelegs. He turned his great, shaggy, bleeding head and looked at Leeli. She crawled past Janner, sobbing, reaching for her dearest friend across the empty space where the bridge had been.
Nugget barked one last time, a big, gentle sound that echoed off the stone and water of Fingap Falls. Janner saw a change in Nugget’s face at the last jab from a Fang spear, a tired but contented look that made him believe the brave dog would fall to the sea happy, knowing he had saved Leeli from harm one last time.
And then Nugget was gone.
15
A Song for Nugget the Brave
J anner didn’t watch him fall. His eyes closed so that the wet stone beneath his hands, the cold wind, the howls of triumph from the Fangs, his little sister’s wailing were all he knew.
Podo lifted Leeli over his shoulder and carried his granddaughter away, dragging Janner by the shirt collar as he went. Janner’s eyes opened, his vision blurred with tears. He ran down the steps behind Podo, noting with detachment the looks of confusion and surprise on Nia’s, Tink’s, and Oskar’s faces.
They climbed the bank slowly, dragging heavy hearts. No one uttered a word, no one looked back to see if the Fangs had found a way to cross the gap.
After a long, winding climb over gravel and boulder, the Igibys, Podo, and Oskar reached level ground. Soft green grass stretched before them for a short distance before the trees of the forest gathered into a green wall. They stood in a clearing roughly the size of the Glipwood Township, an oasis of open space surrounded by glipwood trees.
The area was littered with large stones, but they weren’t the rounded boulders of the falls. They were squared, stacked in places, and overgrown with weeds. Beneath the grass, the trail they followed up from the river became a cobbled roadway, the stones the ruins of a cluster of buildings.
Leeli fell to the grass and wept.
“I’m afraid to say it,” Podo said hoarsely, “but we might be safe. Look.”
Janner and Tink stood beside Podo and looked down. From their vantage point they saw all of Fingap Falls arrayed before them. To the right flowed the white water of the Mighty Blapp, snaking into the mist of the upper falls. Below it jutted the shelf that caught the waters in its giant palm. The bridges spanning the five towers looked as thin as ribbons. At the fourth, of course, there was no longer a bridge, and the surface of the tower was clogged with the tiny movements of Fangs in retreat.
Janner could hardly believe he had just crossed such a precarious distance; in fact, he could hardly believe such a place existed at all.
He turned to see Oskar and Nia lift Leeli and walk her to a stone bench. Nia held Leeli’s head to her chest and rocked to and fro while Oskar patted her back. Leeli cried.
Janner remembered the day at the cottage when she thought the Fangs had killed Nugget. She had cried little and soon grown silent. That had been far more worrisome to him than the way Leeli now wept. She seemed older, no
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