Raveler: The Dark God Book 3 by John D. Brown Page B

and said something in woodikin to the troop leader. Moments later he and a few of the warriors brought forward the packs Talen and the others had carried. They spread the contents out on the floor in front of the queen.
    There was netting for hammock beds, some rope, food, flint for starting fires. All of the normal things travelers would carry. The leader opened Harnock’s sack and pulled out the small rough box Talen had seen and a sack with a few other things that looked like jewelry, but what were probably weaves.
    The queen stood and surveyed the contents spread out on the floor. She opened the rough box with her toe to reveal another box of silver inlaid with graceful loops and whirls of gold. That had to be the Book of Hismayas. The queen picked it up.
    “I beg the Great Mother to be careful,” said Harnock. “There is an evil power in that thing. It has killed many skinmen.”
    The queen turned it over in her hands. It wasn’t like a regular codex with a spine and pages. Nor was it a scroll. Uncle Argoth had told him stories of those who had died trying to open it. Talen’s own father had barely escaped that fate.
    “What is this?” the queen asked.
    Talen glanced at River.
    Harnock said, “It carries the soul of a dead one who had great power. We go to deliver it to those that can set it free. I beg the Great Mother to close it up again. To put the evil away.”
    The queen ran her hand over the silver and gold pattern once more. Then she put the book back. She looked at the other weaves and stirred them with her toe. She motioned at the contents of the packs on the floor. “This is what you offer? I can get more from those that live in holes.”
    “I can get you wurm eggs,” he said.
    She dismissed him. “You will go to the Orange Slayers.”
    “Great Mother,” Harnock said, but she was walking away, back into her splendid house.
    River spoke. “I can give you one of the black rings,” she said. “The ones that turn the Orange Face warriors into terrors.”
    The queen stopped.
    “River,” Harnock warned.
    “I can make you a ring,” River said.
    The translator finished this statement. There was a pause, a silence, and then the woodikin on the platform began to hoot and jabber loudly in their language. The queen considered River for a moment, then silenced the other woodikin on the platform. “Skinwoman, do you think I am a stupid grub?”
    “It is a bold claim,” said River. “But it is true.”
    The queen bared her teeth. “And I must trust your word alone that you can do this thing?”
    “I do not make promises I cannot keep,” said River.
    “That is what you say,” scoffed the queen. The wasp lord said something in a low voice to the queen. The queen considered it. “If you can make a ring, then you can awaken one.”
    “Here we go,” said Harnock under his breath.
    “I will give you a chance to prove you do not lie. Bring this to life.” The queen reached in the folds of her silken tunic and produced a small ring.
    The queen motioned for the troop leader to take the ring to River. The metal was gold. Not a speck of black on it. If it was a weave of might, its Fire had run dry.
    “You stole this from the Orange Slayers?” asked Harnock.
    “It is not important how we got it,” said the queen. “What is important is that you fix it.”
    “Put it in my hand,” River said. The leader looked to the queen who nodded her approval. He placed the small ring in River’s hand behind her back.
    “You’re going to get us all killed,” Harnock said under his breath.
    “No,” said River. “I’m going to win us an ally.”
    Talen knew that you couldn’t put a human weave on an animal. Each kind of beast required a slightly different pattern. And just because you knew one pattern, didn’t mean you knew another.
    River bowed her head, closed her eyes. The whole platform of woodikin waited in silence, every eye focused on her. The warriors stood ready with their knives should any of