I'm the Puppet Master, and you will do as I say!" The man's voice was no more than a low growl. The other men with him were just as intimidating. "Uh, okay. What do you want?" I asked nervously. "You know what we want!" the man with the whip snarled. He raised his fist to strike. "We want his head!" "No!" Kali shouted. "You will not harm my darling boy!" The man raised his fist again. "Not on your life, you ugly whore!" he sneered at Kali. "His blood is more important." "You must let us have our tribute. He's not a very handsome man. My darling will want a man that he loves." The man with the whip stopped just short of striking Kali, and looked at her for a long moment. "My wife, perhaps you can tell me where this person is. We need the tribute." "Well," Kali said with a sad shrug. "I suppose you will have to take me instead." The other men looked at her and then each other. "What the hell kind of place is this?" one of them asked. "I'm a slave woman!" Kali declared loudly, like she expected them to laugh. "And you can have me for nothing, or you can let the puppets go. You'll have to kill me either way. I may not have great beauty, but I'm still a woman, and I will be missed. Your masters will not like the loss." "No, they won't!" the man with the whip agreed. "He was supposed to be an important person." He looked at the one with the knife. "Find out where he is." "I don't know! He never told me!" Kali protested, then she paused and her eyes widened. "You. You're not him, are you? You have a different face!" The man with the whip shook his head. "Not him." He reached into his pocket and produced another mask. Kali's eyes widened and she stared at the man with the mask. "You! You're him!" She shook her head as if she couldn't believe her eyes. "They did a better job on your face than they did on mine! How do I know I can trust you?" "I told you, he was not a very handsome man," she continued. "But you are much uglier, even if you are much smarter." "I suppose so. Now where is this man who looks like a monster? What was his name?" "We call him the Man-Mountain," Kali told him. "Where is he?" The man with the whip frowned. "So, this mountain. We've never heard of anyone living up there. How do we find him?" "Well, he can't go back the way he came," Kali told them. "And there is no other way in or out of that place. So he is somewhere there." She pointed to the south. "You can follow the river. The rocks, the forest, and the river go all the way around the mountain. It won't be easy, but once you're on the other side, all the way down there on the beach at the base of the mountains, you'll see him." "So, he went in that way?" The man with the mask, said pointing toward the sea. "I'd like to speak with this mountain person." Kali nodded and smiled. "Go ahead, just don't kill him. He's not much of a person at the moment." "What? Kill him?" "He's still very much a man, yes. But as I said before, he was an important person, and he was very vain. He liked to talk a lot about how beautiful he was, and if you listen, you'll be able to see how vanity has stripped him of his power and left him as a slave." "You mean you're the one who got to him?" "You could say that. Now that I've had time to think about it, I'm surprised he wanted to keep us around so long. I'm really going to miss him." Kali smiled, and the men with her smiled back. "It's been so long since I've had the freedom to do what I want." "You've always been free, my dear," the man with the mask told her. "Oh, I know. But now that I'm not looking after little ones and babies like I used to, it's even better." "Yes, it is." "Hey! Don't forget me!" Pookie suddenly called out. The man with the whip looked at the poor dog and smiled. "That's a good looking dog." He stood up and stroked Pookie. "I don't believe I've ever seen a dog like that before. What is it?" "A Dobe," Kali told him. "We used to keep them here, but they can't stand up to the salt air, so we don't have them anymore." The man with the whip took the muzzle off his head, pulled it off Pookie's snout, and set it down on the floor. "I see," he said. Then he stood, removed his mask, and gave it to Kali. "There, we've had our tribute, and you're free to go now." He walked over to Pookie. "He seems nice and friendly." He put his hand under Pookie's chin and lifted it. Then he brought the muzzle back and placed it over the pup's snout. "Don't bite me," he told Pookie, as he patted him. "I've had a hard day." "Oh, why do you keep him muzzled?" Kali said. "Why don't you just keep him in the barn? If you do, you'll probably have a better life." "He isn't going to bite you," the man replied. "At least not with his mouth." He looked back at Kali. "That's right, you've got a muzzle on, just like him." Kali smiled. "Yes, I know. I'm going to miss him too." "I'd like to come visit him again sometime." "Of course." "Where does he live, anyway?" "In the mountains." "The mountains?" The man took a step back, and gave Pookie a stern look. "I don't know, ma'am, I don't think he's going to like me too much." "Pookie is harmless," Kali assured him. "I'm sure he'll love you just the same." The man took another step back. He looked worried. "You see, ma'am, we've really had a hard time finding the man-mountain. We need to find him before we can get back home." He looked up at Pookie. "I don't know if we can deal with him." "You might want to do some more thinking on that subject, before you return," Kali said. "You mean it'll be harder to get to him once we get there?" Kali looked at Pookie and laughed. "I would say so. Pookie there will put up a terrible fight." The man's smile disappeared, and he looked down at Pookie. "Is that a threat?" "I wouldn't have told you all of that, if I meant you any harm," Kali assured him. The man turned toward her and smiled. "No, you wouldn't. But can you help us get back home?" "I really think you'll have to be alone with him when you find him." "Are you certain of that?" "No," Kali admitted. "But I'm willing to bet it will be much easier if you're alone with him." "How are we supposed to find him, if we don't know where to start?" "The river," Kali said. "He'll be upstream. Or else he'll have gone out to sea and swam. At night, they'll leave a light shining from the window, and once it's out, he'll have gone down to the beach and waded back in." "He sounds dangerous." Kali looked up at the man. "Not at all. He's a good person, really. But sometimes people can surprise you. He's not the man you'd expect." She reached over and patted his arm. "You just have to trust me on that one." "Let's hope you're right." "But if he's afraid of you, how will you get to him?" The man looked at Pookie. "I don't think I'll be able to get close enough to do anything, without being afraid of him. And maybe even if I could do that, he would turn me into a dog." Kali laughed and shook her head. "Puppets do have a way with words." "I suppose they do. Well, maybe you can help me with something." "Of course." Kali stood and put her hands on her