“Thank you,” Rumfuss said roughly, “for . . . fighting for me.” The boar paused for a moment, then also dropped his head to the ground. At first Conor presumed it was to eat another piece of fallen fruit. Instead, the boar dug his massive tusk into the dirt of the nearest tree. It only took him a few moments to emerge with something hanging from it.
“Is that —” Abeke began.
“The talisman?” Conor finished.
“Here,” Rumfuss said, stretching his neck out. Conor reached forward and took the pendant from the boar’s shining tusk, his muscles tensing at the animal’s smoky breath on his forearm. The talisman — the Iron Boar — was very heavy, and a deep rust color similar to Rumfuss’s hide. It was shaped like a boar, of course, and while Conor couldn’t be certain, he suspected the miniature boar’s tusks were made from bits of Rumfuss’s full-sized ones. They were too perfect not to be.
“Thank you,” Conor said. “Thank you so much.” He slipped the talisman around his neck and turned to the others. Karmo rose, still at Rollan’s swordpoint. Uraza reluctantly got off Devin, though Meilin was quick to brandish her own dagger right under his chin.
“Wait,” Rollan said. “Rumfuss. We promised to free him for the talisman.”
“I will . . . be fine,” Rumfuss snorted, but Rollan shook his head.
“We’ve got to get him out of here,” he said. He turned to Rumfuss. “Come with us. We’ll tell MacDonnell how you fought off Conquerors on his grounds. He’ll owe you a favor.”
“Hopefully that favor will work for the rest of us too, because we don’t have the hare,” Conor said.
“Hare?” Rumfuss asked.
“MacDonnell’s lost spirit animal. He ran off before Finn and I could convince him to return. What do you think MacDonnell will care about more — that we didn’t hold up our end of the bargain, or that we stopped his castle from being invaded?”
No one answered. It was hard to tell with someone like MacDonnell. Conor tucked the talisman under his shirt. With a resigned sigh, he led the others back through the orchard groves, toward the castle. The trek back through the massive gardens took nearly as long as it had to find the boar. Rumfuss followed, uprooting entire trees when they got in his way rather than walking around them. The two prisoners sulked silently the whole way — or rather, silently until either Rollan or Meilin poked them a bit too hard with the tips of their blades.
They arrived back at the garden steps to see most of the castle staff waiting for them. The night sky was already brightening. Rumfuss had elected to wait within the boundary of the tree line. MacDonnell and his children stood ahead of the others.
“Kindly tell me, what sounded like a war going on in my garden?” MacDonnell barked at them, motioning toward the orchards.
“It was a war. Well, a battle, I guess. But it sure felt like a war,” Rollan said, and Karmo made a sound of agreement.
“Lord MacDonnell,” Finn said. “Devin and Karmo allowed other Conquerors onto your grounds to help them capture Rumfuss the Boar and take his talisman.”
MacDonnell’s eyes widened, and a vein on his forehead began to pulsate. Seeing this, his children stepped away. “You mean to tell me, these two not only insulted my hospitality . . . they invaded my home?”
“We didn’t invade —”
“Silence!” MacDonnell roared. “Guards! Relieve me of the burden of Devin Trunswick’s presence. Lock up him and his companion immediately. And force Devin to call his spirit animal into its passive state.”
“It is in its passive state, sir,” Conor said shyly. “This wildcat belongs to Finn.”
Now all attention shot to Finn, and a ripple of shock and awe raced through the crowd. Even MacDonnell’s lips parted in wonder as Finn stepped forward, his wildcat, Donn, moving regally beside him. Donn made Elda look like a kitten. He was all muscle, with eyes as bright and yellow as the sun reflected off water. His black fur was dark velvet.
“The wildcat? The one from the legends? That means . . . you . . .” MacDonnell said, lifting his eyes to Finn. Suddenly MacDonnell was laughing, voice booming. “The true legend! In my home! I knew it couldn’t be that snub-nosed Trunswick child!”
Finn bowed a bit, though he seemed rather bashful of the attention. Conor could relate. As the tittering and excitement died down, Finn cleared his throat. “My lord, we did not stop the Conquerors on our own. We were assisted by none other than Rumfuss, the Great Beast.”
At this, Rumfuss, who had been mostly lurking in the shadows of the garden, stepped ever so slightly into the dwindling moonlight. The sheer size of him was obvious, even from this glimpse. The boar’s eyes landed hard upon Lord MacDonnell. A hush fell over the assembled crowd; a few people went indoors, wary of Rumfuss’s ferocity. Conor found himself wondering for the first time just how the Great Beast had ended up within these walls. A story for another time, perhaps.
“It would be very honorable, sir,” Conor added, “for you to release him from captivity, in return for his heroics.”
MacDonnell paused. He puffed up his shoulders a bit, and somehow managed to look nearly as large as Rumfuss. “The deal, if I recall, was my hare for Rumfuss and his talisman. I cannot allow lawbreakers to simply suggest new laws for their own convenience.”
“Oh, come on!” Rollan snapped. “You’d be overrun with Conquerors right now!”
“My castle, my law!” MacDonnell barked, and there was a buzz of agreement among the crowd, though Conor suspected this was merely because no one wanted to disagree with a man like MacDonnell. He shook his head, furious with himself for not convincing the hare sooner.
Behind him, Rumfuss made a deep sound in his throat, one that was loud but strangely gentle, almost like a cat purring. Rumfuss inclined his large head, indicating over his shoulder with a perfect tusk, then stamped a foot on the ground softly.
A collective gasp rose from the crowd. MacDonnell’s face paled and, even from afar, Conor could see his lower lip was trembling.
It was the hare. It hopped from behind Rumfuss slowly, cautiously. Rumfuss looked down at the hare, who peered back up at him. They were speaking, though whatever they were saying was beyond any of the humans present. The hare now turned and looked up at MacDonnell, who sank to his knees in one swift motion. The sight of the great Lord MacDonnell in such a position sent a chorus of gasps from the assembled servants.