The Last Protector (7 page)

"And that was my first big battle,” Scrornuck concluded, polishing off his beer.

Nalia applauded softly but enthusiastically. “Great story! Do you have any more?"

"Not now,” Jape said sternly. “We need to be on our way."

As Jape paid the bill, leaving a modest tip, Scrornuck and Nalia strolled over to the beer garden's fence. There they watched several young men and women practicing archery at a small target range. “They're good,” he said, watching one arrow after another find its mark, a red heart in a silhouette of an attacking dragon.

"They're okay.” A note of pride crept into Nalia's voice. “I'm better—I took second place in my age-group when I was fourteen."

"Congratulations!” he said. “You know, your people could raise one heck of an army."

"An army?” she said, indignation filling her voice. “You mean shoot at
people?
You could hurt somebody doing that! Archery is just for fun!"

Just for fun? he thought. Another arrow
thunked
dead center into its target. Still, if what she'd said was true, there were no battles in Taupeaquaah, and no need for armies.
What a great place.

Jape sauntered up and watched the archers for a few seconds. “They're good,” he said. “I bet they'd make a pretty fair army..."

Scrornuck raised a finger to his lips. “I wouldn't go there."

They left the pub and continued to the west. After they'd walked for about an hour, the pavement abruptly ran out. Neat stacks of yellow bricks sat on wooden pallets alongside the dirt path, protected by plastic cones whose orange color had faded little in the last century. “End of the Road,” Nalia said reverently.

Scrornuck idly lifted a brick from the stack. Turning it over in his hand, he looked to the west. More stacks of yellow bricks stood at the foot of the next concrete tower, and the one after that. He dropped the brick and picked up an orange cone, holding it to his mouth as if it were a megaphone. “Attention, shoppers! Special on yellow pavers in Aisle Six!"

Nalia gasped, her face went white and she stared into the sky as though she expected something heavy to fall from it.

"Mister Saughblade,” Jape said, in a voice that allowed no argument, “put those back where you found them. Now!"

Scrornuck set the cone down, being careful to place it exactly on the little depression in the dust where he'd found it. Then, seeing that he still hadn't escaped Jape's icy stare, he picked up the brick he'd dropped and carefully set it back on the stack. “Just a brick,” he muttered. “It's not like they're sacred or something..."

"Yes, they
are!"
Nalia's words practically exploded, and Scrornuck took a half-step backward in surprise. “Don't you know
anything?"

"We're not from around here,” Jape said. “As far as we know, a pile of bricks is a pile of bricks. Please tell us what we're missing."

She released an exasperated sigh. “All right. But if you don't know this, what the hell
do
you know? The End of the Road is where construction stopped when Spafu's Helpers left. The Priests tell us that someday they'll return and finish the Road, and until then we're to leave things exactly as they were. So, yes, it's a sacred place, and you've disturbed it—for all I know, you've just cursed all of us."

"Well,” Jape said cheerfully, “we didn't get struck down by lightning, so I suspect we've escaped the wrath of Spafu this time. We'll be more careful, won't we, Mister Saughblade?"

Scrornuck nodded, muttering under his breath that the lizard couldn't curse his own butt.

They continued west, Scrornuck making a point of giving the piles of bricks a wide berth. The grasslands through which the road ran narrowed to a strip barely a hundred feet wide, separating the dense forests to the south from a parched white desert to the north. In the distance, a huge cloud of brown dust swirled and boiled, rising hundreds of feet above the desert. “I've been watching that for the better part of an hour,” Jape said. “What is it?"

"We call it the Perpetual Storm,” Nalia said. “It never gets any bigger or smaller, it never moves, and the stories say it's been there since the world was made. Some say Spafu cursed the land and made it a desert. Nobody knows for sure, because the sacred scrolls don't mention it."

"Maybe they were building a beach and forgot the lake.” Scrornuck set down his pack and pointed to an outcrop of white stone some fifty feet high. “C'mon, let's get a better look."

Nalia stopped at the edge of the grass. “I don't want to get any closer. I've heard stories about people who go into the desert. They never come back. Maybe they're attacked by unfriendly dragons.” She shuddered slightly. “Maybe something out there eats them."

"Or maybe they just get lost,” Jape said. “No need to invent monsters when confusion and dehydration will explain things. Still, Mister Saughblade..."

"On my way!” Scrornuck opened the pack and retrieved a short black tube with a clear jewel on each end. He trotted across the sand and scrambled up the crumbling side of the rock. Reaching the top, he put one end of the spotter-scope to his eye and turned to examine the Storm. “See anything?"

Jape, watching the spotter-scope's view on the softscroll, shook his head. Even in the magnified view, the swirling clouds of dust looked like little more than swirling clouds of dust. “Might as well come on down."

As Scrornuck started to lower the scope, he glimpsed a speck of light moving along the northern horizon. “Hey, Jape, have a look at this!"

Jape watched the speck flicker along among the dunes for a few seconds before it faded away. He looked at Nalia. “Are you
sure
nobody lives out there?"

She nodded. “Positive. Nobody lives there, nobody goes there, nobody ever came back."

Scrornuck swept the horizon with the scope, but while a few specks and sparkles appeared in the heat haze, there was no longer any sign of a moving light. “Whatever it was, it's gone."

"Probably an illusion,” Jape said, as Scrornuck scampered down from the rock to join the group. “You know how the desert plays tricks."

An hour or so later, they encountered a trail that led south into the forest. Jape again waved his hands in the air and studied the jewels in his rings. He sat on a comfortable tussock of grass and pulled out the softscroll, which became a rigid tablet resting on his knees. The map was now more detailed, showing every bend in the Western Road, along with a half-dozen purple spots, each with a straight line passing through it. He planted a finger on the point where the lines converged, south of their present location. “That's our destination,” he said, “so this must be our turnoff."

The forest trail was neither brick nor dirt but smooth, short grass that was perfect for walking. “Look at this,” Jape said, pointing to the trail's edge. “The grass grows on the path, there's this row of yellow flowers, then the forest begins. No trees on the path, no grass under the trees. How'd they do it?” He waved his hands over the grass and flowers, watching the flickering jewels of his rings. “There. I'll try to figure it out tonight.” He smiled, anticipating an interesting puzzle.

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"This looks like a good place to spend the night,” Scrornuck said, pointing to a pleasant clearing about a hundred feet from the path. It was just big enough for sunlight to reach the forest floor, creating an oasis of soft green grass. A small stream flowed through the clearing, and a spring bubbled from a rocky place on the stream's bank.

Jape consulted his map. “We're only an hour or two away. We can get there before dark."

Scrornuck shook his head and strode toward the clearing in a way that left Jape and Nalia little choice but to follow. “We stay here tonight. We'll have plenty of time to get there and back before dark tomorrow.” He looked at Jape with a mixture of affection and mild annoyance. “Somebody's got to keep you out of trouble."

"I'm a Ranger,” Jape said. “Getting in trouble is my job."

"And getting you out of it is mine. I don't need you getting eaten by wolves ‘cause you were in a hurry."

"What kind of job gets you in trouble all the time?” Nalia asked.

"Saving the world.” Jape spoke in a most matter-of-fact manner.

She looked up at the beautiful sky, blue turning to indigo with just a few puffy clouds for variety. “Hardly looks like the world needs saving."

"You'd be surprised."

"Yeah, right. And just what do you save the world from?"

"Mistakes,” Jape said. “Mistakes that will cause pain and suffering and death and destruction.” A touch of bitterness crept into his voice. “Stupid, arrogant mistakes that people made when they played with forces they didn't understand."

"You're serious, aren't you?” she said, a bit of fear creeping into her voice.

"Deadly serious."

She shivered slightly. “Is the place we're visiting one of these ‘mistakes'?"

"We won't know until we get there,” he replied. “I hope it is, because we can't fix the mistake until we find it."

"And we'll worry about that tomorrow,” Scrornuck said firmly. “For now, let's have some dinner and a good night's sleep.” He pulled a silvery device with a plunger handle from the pack and went over to the spring. “Might as well get some water going."

Jape dipped a finger in the spring and let a drop of water fall on one of his rings. “Don't bother; it's safe."

"What's all that about?” Nalia asked.

"Some of the places we go, the water's not safe to drink. It can be bad for the digestion, shall we say..."

"Gives you the screaming squirts,” Scrornuck clarified.

"Thank you, Mister Saughblade. Anyway, this device purifies the water so it's drinkable, no matter how nasty it was."

Scrornuck put the device away. “If you really want to be safe, you can just stick with beer. Want one?"

"Umm, no thanks,” she said. “I don't think I can drink anything right now.” Her face reddened slightly. “I sort of have the opposite problem."

"Oops,” Scrornuck said, embarrassed. “I forgot you can't just use the side of the trail.” He grabbed the folding shovel that was strapped to the outside of the pack, picked a spot among the bushes that offered some degree of privacy, and quickly dug the necessary pit. “There you go—all the comforts of home!"

"I'm supposed to go—there?"

"It could be worse,” Jape said. “Could be raining, could be snowing..."

"And we have this stuff,” Scrornuck said, placing a roll of toilet paper on a stick. “It works a lot better than leaves!"

Nalia rocked back and forth as a debate went on between her dignity and her bladder. Eventually her bladder won. “All right,” she said, “but no peeking!"

While Nalia answered nature's call, Scrornuck rummaged around in the pack and came up with a pair of cloth rolls. Each contained a teepee-style tent just large enough to accommodate one person. He set them up at opposite sides of the clearing, about thirty feet from each other.

By the time the tents were up, Nalia had finished her business. “Why so far apart?” she asked.

"You'll see.” He tossed a sleeping bag into each tent. “This one's yours,” he said, and Nalia obediently tossed her small pack inside.

She looked at the other tent dubiously. “How are both of you going to fit inside one of these?"

"I don't sleep in a tent.” He spread a beat-up red plaid blanket on the grass about midway between the tents. “Couldn't keep a proper eye on things if I did.” He pointed at Jape, who gazed into his many rings, already lost in thought. “When this guy gets into heavy thinking, he wouldn't notice a dragon carrying him away. Somebody's got to protect him."

"Protect him from what? If he's really saving the world, who'd want to stop him?"

"You'd be surprised how often the world doesn't want to be saved,” Jape said. “We risk life and limb to straighten things out, and the next thing you know some warlord's coming after us with blood in his eye."

"And a big knife in his hand,” Scrornuck added. “You'd think they'd be more grateful, but they never are. Jape gets in trouble, and I get him out of it. Almost got myself killed a few times."

"Killed?"
Her face had gone white.

"It's a rough business. Sometimes we go to some pretty bad places. People get hurt, people die..."

"Well, the world looks pretty safe tonight,” Jape said, putting an end to the discussion. He glanced at the green jewel of the big ring on his left hand. “Yes, quite safe. Anyone for a fire?"

"There's no wood on the ground,” Nalia said, scanning the lower limbs of the trees. “There!” She pointed at a big, dry, dead branch about thirty feet up, and in a smooth, fluid movement swung herself into the tree and started climbing.

Scrornuck watched for a moment, quite pleased by her graceful climb. Then, positioning himself directly beneath the branch, he wiggled his toes just so, feeling a warm pressure as the tops of his boots unrolled and wrapped themselves around his knees and thighs. He bent his knees and jumped, soaring into the air and alighting on a branch just below the dead one a moment before Nalia reached it.

"What the—” she said. “How'd you get up here?"

He grinned, and helped her the rest of the way onto the branch. “It's the shoes.” He pointed to the array of tubes, rods, cylinders and patches of shiny blue-black material woven through the brown leather and fringe of his boots. “They give me an assist. I can jump almost fifty feet straight up if I'm careful."

"And if you're not careful?"

"I, uh, hurt myself,” he said sheepishly. “Broke my leg a couple times.” He pulled out the sword-grip, squeezed it gently and called forth five feet of faintly glowing blade that sliced through the dead tree branch like it was butter, cutting off everything from kindling to chunks of log that would burn all night. “Want to come down with me?” he asked. “The boots absorb the shock when I come down, too."

"Okay,” Nalia said. “But try not to break another leg!"

Scrornuck scooped her up. “I never
try
to break anything,” he said. “But landings can be a bit touchy. Every jump is kind of a leap of faith. Now close your eyes and count to three."