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without falling over. I moved forward slowly, as if skating on ice,
until the riverbed was softer and less slippery.
    I looked up, smiling, expecting to see smiles all
around.
    Kara’s face was filled with fear and horror.
    I turned around.
    Something surged out of the water.
    Turning back to my friends I ran through the shin
deep water, glancing back behind me as I approached the shore.
    But it was too late.
    Two enormous jaws were opening and moving towards
me faster than I could run.
    I fell face down in the water, got back up again,
sputtering, ran a few more feet. My hand went to my side and I grabbed for my
sword, but there was nothing. Nothing at all.
    The blade had fallen into the river.
    The great water lizard was just feet away from me.
I spoke a word of power, imagining my blade. Komm !
    The blade surged forth from the water just a few
feet away from me. The hilt was in my hand and the scabbard flew away onto the
shore, just yards away.
    Just in time.
    The blade burned blue, blue fire that I swung down
onto the creature’s snout, cleaving off the top half of its jaw. Hot blood
spurted out into the cold water as the creature thrashed back and forth,
snapping what was left of its jaws at my feet. I danced around it, and swung
again, chopping its head clean off. The body thrashed about, and the head
snapped several times, as I backed up and onto the shore.
    I sighed in relief.
    Too soon.
    The water seethed. There were more of the
creatures, and for a moment I thought they would surge into and out of the last
of the shallow water and attack me.
    Instead they converged on the animal I had slain,
feeding on their own kin. The water frothed and then was still.
    I felt Woltan at my arm
and looked at him as I continued backing up. Then Kara was there too, and she
handed me my scabbard. I cleaned the sword and sheathed it.
    When we were a good hundred yards away from the
river, we stopped on what must have been the beginning of the rest of the road.
“Crocodiles,” Woltan said, then, breaking the
silence. “I have read of them in our library. It is far too cold here for them
to be here. I wonder if someone sent them.”
    Kara shrugged. “Perhaps they have adapted
magically to our cold climate.”
    But then she was staring down at my legs, and I
looked down as well.
    There were little black wriggling shapes attached
to the bare parts of our legs. “Leeches,” Kara said. “Best to remove them
before they feed further.”
    I reached down to pluck at them, but Kara shook
her head. “They’ll leave their teeth inside and infect you.”
    Without thinking, my hand moved and I spoke a word
of power. Geh !
    I looked down at my legs and the leeches had all
fallen to the ground, where they wriggled.
    Kara glared at me. “Didn’t you see how Woltan has been avoiding using magic?”
    “How was I supposed to get rid of them?”
    “Smoked them off, or put a stinging powder. But
now that you’ve used magic, I might as well too.”
    She reached down and touched her legs, and said a
word so quietly I could not hear her. The leeches disappeared.
    Then Woltan was upon us,
scowling. “Why are you using magic? The dark lord has his eyes open, and he
looks for you. Your magic will have put a marker here for everyone to see. We
have to get moving now, to avoid unwanted company.”
    “Leeches and crocodiles are not unwanted company?”
I asked, hoping for a smile.
    Woltan shook his head.
“I am glad you’ve regained a sense of humor, Anders, but I see nothing funny
here. There are a lot worse things that can come to call than leeches and
crocodiles. Magical creatures, more evil and far stronger than anything we have
met. And since my people have been in our walled city for so long, we are
ill-equipped to deal with them.” His face flushed, and he turned away.
    Kara put her hand on his shoulder. “ Woltan , it must be hard to leave a city for the first time
in your life. But remember there is evil here that none of us have seen.