The Dragons of Bone and Dust (Tales from the New Earth Book 7) (5 page)

Simon stood up as well, feeling
embarrassed by his momentary anger. He was reminded of how hard it
was for the elves, who were not a magic-using people, to open a rift
between their world and his.

“
I thank you
as well, Elder Arabetha,” he told her. “And I apologize
if I was rude.”

The elder laughed lightly as she got
up. She still stood tall and straight and caught Simon's gaze with
her own.

“
My people
are indebted to you, Simon O'Toole, and we always will be. You saved
us from the primal brown dragon. This is the least we can do in
return. I only wish that we could send you home from this location.
But Ethmira is correct; the journey to Dellis Varna is easy at this
time of year and you have more than enough time to reach it. I wish
you both safe travels.”

Simon and Ethmira thanked her again
and turned away to walk back to the stairs.

“
Are you
sure that we have enough time to reach this place?” he asked as
they began walking down the steps.

“
Quite sure.
We will have to set a steady pace but you are more than fit enough to
make the journey. It should only take five days to get there, so we
have a buffer in case bad weather or something else slows us down a
bit.”

The wizard relaxed a bit. It didn't
sound quite so bad when Ethmira put it like that.

“
In that
case, let's get moving. I'd rather be there two days early than a
minute late.”

“
Why didn't
your people ever domesticate any animals?” Simon asked as he
adjusted the pack on his back yet again. “I mean, horses would
be a handy thing to have right about now, don't you think?”

Ethmira continued to lead the way
through the never-ending forest, but took a moment to glance over her
shoulder and give him an amused look.

“
There are
no horses on this world, Simon. And what good would they do anyway?
There are very few large open spaces where such a creature could run.
All we have is the occasional meadow or field. As I understand it,
the horses on Earth evolved to run on huge plains, did they not?”

Simon pushed a thick branch out of
his way as he rounded the thick bole of a tree. The path that they
were following was as thin as a thread and wound in, out and around
many old trees. The heavy scent of pine, or something that smelled
almost identical, was delightful but the trek itself was exhausting.

“
That's
true,” he answered and wiped sweat out of his eyes. His leather
clothing was comfortable and protective, but it didn't really breathe
and his body was slick with sweat. As usual, Ethmira looked cool and
walked lightly in her natural environment.

“
But there
must be other animals that you could have domesticated to ride on or
at least carry packs for you, aren't there?”

“
Perhaps it
never occurred to my ancestors to do that,” she replied, her
voice muffled as she ducked under a thicket and disappeared from
view.

“
But as
you've seen, we do not even keep animals for meat. We hunt for what
we need and let all creatures live free, as they were meant to.”

“
It wouldn't
have killed you elves to keep a few chickens,” the wizard
muttered to himself. “I really miss eggs for breakfast.”

Either Ethmira didn't hear him or
chose not to answer because they continued on in silence. They had
been on the trail for three days now and, if it wasn't for the elven
maiden, Simon would have been totally lost. The sky appeared through
the thick foliage only rarely and even after living here for several
months, he still couldn't identify which roots and plants were edible
and which ones were poisonous, and there were a lot of those.

But Ethmira led them steadily and
harvested food as they traveled, so there was always enough to eat
when they stopped for a meal. She had also caught and skinned one of
the small animals call a croop on their first day on the trail. It
looked something like a rabbit but had black fur and tiny ears. There
was enough meat on the animal to last them for a few days once it had
been cooked and wrapped up properly.

They had had to stop several times a
day to allow some of the forest's more dangerous predators to pass
by. Once they had both scampered up a tree that fortunately had low
branches when a massive kravon had crashed through the forest,
indifferent to the noise it was making. The monster must have been
thirty feet long or more and probably weighed several tons. It had
stopped below the tree they were in and growled low in its throat, a
deep rumble that vibrated in the air.

It snapped its jaws together, bright
white fangs flashing in the shadows, and then moved on. Simon barely
breathed until it was out of sight and then he sighed loudly with
relief. Ethmira looked after the kravon grimly and shook her head.

“
We may see
more of those creatures as we approach the northern border. They like
to hunt where the forest meets the mountains.”

“
Dellis
Varna is in the mountains?” Simon asked in surprise as they
slowly climbed back down to the ground.

“
Just on the
edge of them. The Varna mountains are the greatest range in the world
and have been a natural border for our country for what seems like
forever. Dellis Varna was one of a series of forts build along the
mountain range's edge millennia ago. It is a ruin now, which I've
mentioned to the Council more than once. I believe that the forts
should at least be maintained, just in case.”

They reached the ground and started
off again, fortunately in a different direction than the kravon.

“
You're
worried that your peace treaty won't hold?” Simon asked as he
adjusted his pack.

“
No, but it
doesn't hurt to be prudent. I have convinced some of the councilors
and intend to convince them all eventually. Peace can be a fragile
thing and every time our northern neighbors go through a change of
government, I wait anxiously to see if things remain stable.”

She made an odd gesture with one hand, as if she
was pushing something away.

“
So far so good,”
she added as she did it.

Simon didn't answer, but smiled to himself as he
followed the elf. Sometimes Ethmira and her people could be just as
superstitious as humans. He recognized her gesture as a ward against
bad luck. Then his smile faded. Considering his upcoming attempt to
cross back over to the Earth, he wondered darkly if maybe he should
start using it too.

On the fifth day, they broke camp for the last leg
of their journey. Ethmira said that Dellis Varna was only a few hours
away but unfortunately it had rained all night and continued to do so
as they set out.

The forest floor was soggy and slippery and the
air was heavy with the smell of the rich soil. It made it rather hard
for Simon to catch his breath and, when Ethmira noticed, she slowed
down her pace somewhat.

“
Don't worry about it,”
she told Simon when he noticed. “We have plenty of time. And
you are panting so loudly that it might draw unwanted attention.
We'll take it slower and arrive in one piece.”

Simon stopped and took a moment to catch his
breath.

“
Sorry. I still don't
have a lot of stamina. Skinny wizard boy, that's me.”

The elf laughed and looked at him fondly.

“
It's okay, my friend.
You will never be a long distance runner, or a warrior for that
matter. You were created to use magic the way a great singer uses
their voice. It's as natural to you as breathing is to me. Don't
apologize for it.”

He'd never heard his skill described in those
terms before and smiled at her gratefully.

“
Unfortunately, in your
world this singer has lost his voice, making me fairly useless.”

They began walking again, more slowly this time.

“
Ah but wait until you
return home, Simon. Then your voice will soar.”

He thought about his magic wistfully. He'd never
quite realized how much he'd miss it until it was gone for an
extended period.

“
I hope so.”

Of course, he'd lost his powers once before, but
it had been for a very short time. Here in the elven realm, months
had passed and, unless this attempt at bridging the gap between
worlds worked, it might be years or possibly never before he could
use magic again.

He shook his head doggedly.

No, he thought. That isn't going to happen. I'm
going to get back home, get my powers back and rejoin the fight to
beat back the lords of Chaos.

He followed Ethmira around the trunk of a
particularly large tree and a soggy branch smacked him in the face,
breaking through his thoughts.

“
Careful where you are
walking,” the elf called back.

He sputtered and coughed as he wiped the water off
of his face.

“
Yeah, thanks a lot,”
he replied irritably as he shook his head.

His heavy mane of hair sprayed water everywhere
and he used both hands to push it up and back off of his face.

The leather clothing that he and Ethmira wore was
water-proof, as were their thin leather boots, but the journey still
became uncomfortable very quickly. They plodded along faint forest
paths for hours, stopping a few times to rest.

Near midday, the elven maiden found shelter where
an ancient tree had fallen over and was leaning against another. Its
huge trunk offered cover from the rain and the ground beneath it was
dry enough for them to sit down comfortably.

For Simon it was a huge relief and he folded his
long legs and sat down on the soft earth with a loud groan.

“
Ah, that feels so good,”
he said to Ethmira as she gracefully sat down nearby and opened her
pack.

“
I swear it feels like
we've been walking for days instead of hours.”

“
It's the soaked ground,”
she said agreeably. “It makes it twice as hard to walk when
every step slips. Uses up a lot of energy. Here.”

She offer him a packet of food, dried fruit, and
he accepted it gratefully.

“
Thanks. So, considering
our slower pace, thanks to me, how long until we reach the fort now?”

She frowned as she chewed her food.

“
Probably not until
nightfall. We may have to camp in the forest one more night before we
reach it.”

Whatever fruit the elves had used in the travel
ration was very sweet and packed with energy and Simon ate it with
great enjoyment.

“
But isn't that cutting
things a bit close?” he asked as he finished his snack and
folded the wrapper. He handed it back to Ethmira.

“
Not at all. Remember, we
have seven days and today is only day five. We could take all of
tomorrow to get to Dellis Varna and still have plenty of time to
spare.”

“
Ah, that's true. Well,
let's hope we don't run into any more delays. Spare time or not, I'm
starting to get a bad feeling about this whole thing.”

Ethmira rebraided her hair and then stood up,
settling her pack over her shoulders again. She smiled as she waited
for Simon to stagger to his feet and get ready to move out again.

“
I'm not trying to insult
you, my friend, but you worry too much. We are very close to our goal
now and, if we are careful, we will reach the fort tonight, or
tomorrow morning at the latest.”

She stepped out into the steady downpour again and
Simon followed with a heavy sigh.

“
I hope you're right,”
he said loudly over the patter of the falling rain. “It just
seems like every time things appear to be going right for me, life
finds a way to make them go wrong.”

“
Not this time,”
Ethmira said confidently. She looked back over her shoulder. “This
time everything will be fine. You'll see.”

“
I might have spoken too
soon,” the elven maiden said in a subdued voice at around noon
on the next day.

She looked down at the base of the tree that she
and Simon were sitting in. Both of them watched the kravon that was
circling the tree and staring up at them hungrily.

“
You don't say,” he
replied dryly, tightly gripping the branch that he was perched on.

Several hours earlier they had rounded that very
tree and come face to maw with the monster. Simon had thought that
the first kravon they had seen on their journey was huge, but this
creature made that one look small in comparison.

He almost smiled as he remembered the reactions on
both sides. The kravon had been lying still and straight on the
forest floor and they had mistaken it for a fallen tree until it had
reared up on its front quarters.

Simon and Ethmira had stopped dead in their tracks
and the kravon had frozen as well and both of them had stared at each
other in mutual surprise. Then the elf had spun around, shoved Simon
toward the tree and had yelled, “Climb!”

Fortunately the monster had hesitated for several
seconds and that had given them the time they needed to climb high
enough to get beyond its reach.