Arkady squeezed his eyes shut and concen-

Arkady squeezed his eyes shut and concen-

**of Note**

trated on the sound. Only the sound.

Perhaps the details of the old tales didn’t really matter, he thought. Perhaps the words themselves were like his sense of sight here in the underdark. Blunted and rendered unreliable.

Maybe what was really important was the sound.

The rhythm of the words. The steady rise and fall of them, like the familiar pattern of four feet pounding across a granite floor.

Maybe it didn’t matter at all what was said here, he thought, but rather the spirit in which it was voiced. He threw back his head and howled again, defiant. She was here somewhere. And even a darkness this vast and complete could not stand between them.

The only result of his renewed call, however, was a faint frightened shriek.

“No!” came the small distant voice. “Go away.

Leave me alone. Don’t hurt me. Don’t hurt me again.”

It was like a litany. The girl mumbled the words over and over again, until they lost all meaning. Until only the inflection, the rhythm of their rise and fall mattered.

Arkady pace matched it, redoubling his efforts in a burst of speed that set his heart thundering against his ribs. And then suddenly, she was there before him. A small huddled thing on the floor. Knees drawn up to chest, elbows wrapped around knees, face in hands. She was rocking slowly back and forth, and the singsong rhythm of her rocking was exactly the same as that of her litany of denials and that of the pattern of his four pounding paws.

He checked his speed suddenly, nails scrabbling for purchase on the polished stone tiles. He was going to crash right over her, like a wave. Like a breaking thunderhead. To obliterate her utterly.

With a violent heave he threw his bulk to one side and leapt, sailing past her, a powerful forepaw passing within a handbreadth of her face. He skidded to a stop, wheeling fast, afraid he might lose her again to the darkness. But she was there,