Gold Runner by Tessa Gratton

Author:Tessa Gratton
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Tessa Gratton
Published: 2014-09-29T00:00:00+00:00

FIVE.

We’re through Vernal and into Uto kingstate before the sun rises high enough for me to put the bag of elf gold into Kasja’s lap. She’s been silent for an hour as we watched the dim silver morning creep pink and blood-orange over the desert. Now we’re surrounded by scrub brush and flat-top hills. Rusty dirt blows over the highway like a quick disguise.

Here’s an advantage to talking while driving: I don’t have to look at her. I say, “Open it.”

She does, daintily untying the thin leather drawstring. The leather creaks as she tugs it. Even from the corner of my eye, the flash of gold is bright. Unlike regular gold, this shimmers to a man like me, with a god’s eyes. To Kasja, it’s probably dead yellow, like polished chunks of sulfur.

The cab slowly fills with a tinny song, like miniature axes picking at crystal caves, like whispers that echo from under the mountain. I narrow my eyes onto the road, glad for the iron piercing my ears like a shell, dulling the effect.

Kasja reaches in and pinches out a single bean-shaped chunk. It catches sunlight reflecting off the side mirror, and the song vanishes. Relieved, I sigh. Kasja raises it to her face, though, staring. “It’s vibrating,” she says.

“Don’t hold that piece for long, or you won’t be able to put it down.”

She casts me a frown.

“Really. You’ll think you put it away, but will find it in your pocket. Your hands will betray you. The leather is only slight protection. Usually enough for me, and I get rid of it fast, spread the pieces around. In bulk like that….” I lift my shoulders. “It’ll poison you.”

“What is it?”

“Elf gold.”

“What?” She wraps her fingers around the chunk in her hand.

“You’ve heard of it.” Everyone has.

“How did you get it? Aren’t the elves under the mountain gone?”

“They want us to think that, and so do the gods.”

Her bitter hiss is enough to reassure me Kasja won’t question me much in that regard. I continue, “There’s still a court of them in the Rock Mountains, higher up near Snake River where the old supervolcano is. They keep to themselves for survival—they wouldn’t want anything like the Anti-Troll League shifting focus onto them, imagining they’re more of a threat than the trolls.

“Why do you know this, Amon?” Her tone is shrewd.

I glance at her fist. “Put that piece away.”

Her hand uncurls in surprise, and she shoves the gold back into the pouch before jerking the drawstring tight. “My heart is roaring,” she whispers.

Snatching the bag, I tuck it behind my seat in the shadows. “A few years ago, I met one, and we began to trade. She wants electronics and plastics. I take the gold from her and sell it.”

“That sounds dangerous.”

“It’s illegal,” I say flatly.

Silence is her response, and after a moment, I add, “I should have told you what you were getting into. But I didn’t think it would attract anything out in the middle of a national park.” The whole truth is that I hadn’t thought much past Kasja.

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