Bone War by Steven Harper Page A

Nine.”
    The Gardeners looked pleased for a fleeting moment, and lost the expression just as quickly. Nu said, “This is a disaster.”
    â€œA calamity,” said Tan.
    â€œA . . . catastrophe,” said Aisa.
    â€œGood one,” put in Death. “You earn extra for the alliteration.”
    â€œExtra what?” Aisa shot back.
    â€œOh, I’m going to enjoy this for the next thousand years,” Death trilled. “Listen, we have to do something, and fast.”
    â€œQuicky,” agreed Nu.
    â€œSpeedily,” said Tan.
    â€œNot now,” interrupted Death, then turned back to Danr and Aisa. “Look at the two of them. They’re barely coherent without their third. The Garden is dying, the world is sliding into chaos, and soon everything will be gone, gone, gone. All because of that foolish queen. We need to work out what to do, my darlings.”
    Danr shook his head, feeling overwhelmed. He was a farmer, a former thrall, not someone who should be discussing the fate of the world with Death and the two remaining Gardeners. He shouldn’t be—
    Stop it,
he told himself. He had reformed and wielded the Iron Axe. He had faced down this evil queen once and stopped her. He had faced Grandfather Wyrm and brought back the power of the shape. Royalty begged him to dine with him.
    Even so. He had been born a farmer, he had lived a farmer, and a small voice inside him said he would eventually die a farmer. And what was wrong with that? He hadn’t ever asked to be a . . . a hero. All he had ever done was trudge forward, always forward. What else could you do? And now all that trudging forward had brought him to this very strange and frightening place where Death herself was asking him for advice.
    â€œWhy don’t you just . . . take her?” he asked. “The queen, I mean.”
    â€œI’ve tried, sweetie,” said Death. “Oh, how I’ve tried.But I can’t touch her. I don’t know why. And you’ve seen Nu and Tan here. They can barely keep the Garden from sliding off Ashkame into the void, let alone uproot the plant of someone who is feeding off the power of one of their own.”
    â€œGwylph is powerful,” growled Nu.
    â€œPotent,” snapped Tan.
    â€œEr . . . divine?” finished Aisa.
    â€œNot yet.” Nu twisted the strap on her seed bag. “But closer and closer every day. She was one of the other choices, you know.”
    â€œOther choices,” Danr echoed. “I don’t understand.”
    â€œAisa was not our only candidate to replace Pendra,” said Tan. “We looked at other powerful women. Strong women who could also wield the sickle without flinching. Queen Gwylph nearly took the power of the Iron Axe for herself and would have ruled the world.”
    â€œIf she hadn’t destroyed it first,” Death pointed out.
    â€œBut it made her a good candidate,” Tan replied.
    â€œShe was an evil woman!” Danr protested. “She still is!”
    â€œShe thinks of herself as good, you know,” said Nu gently. “She sees herself as a bringer of light and order. To her, the evil Stane need to be uprooted.”
    â€œThe terrible Stane must be destroyed,” said Tan.
    â€œThe filthy Stane have to be wiped out,” said Aisa.
    â€œHey!” Danr said, affronted. “Whose side are you on?”
    â€œApologies, Hamzu,” she said. “Something about this place.”
    â€œWhat poisons one plant fertilizes another,” said Nu. “The only thing that matters is the overall health of the Garden.”
    â€œHow could a mortal kidnap a . . . a Gardener?” Danr burst out. “Mortals can’t interfere with gods and fate. It’s the other way around.”
    Here, Nu, Tan, and Death all looked genuinely puzzled. “What are you talking about, dear?” Death said at last.“The Nine, the