by A. Giannetti
“Do you think the creature’s cries were heard by anyone?” Ascilius asked as they walked in single file down the narrow path. The sounds of the battle had echoed up and down the length of the valley below them.
“I do not think anyone will be anxious to investigate the source of those cries even if they did hear them,” said Elerian dryly. “In any case, the valley looks uninhabited from what I can see.”
“You cannot go by appearances in Goblin country,” warned Ascilius. “They live below ground for the most part, like Dwarves. Any number of them might be concealed beneath the slopes around us.”
“Perhaps we should disappear for a time then,” said Elerian, calling back his ring. When it appeared in the palm of his right hand, he slipped it onto his finger, disappearing from Ascilius’s sight. Concentrating on the cloak of golden light that covered him from head to feet, Elerian extended a slender thread of it through the air until it touched Ascilius. The thread spilled a film of light over the Dwarf, and he, too, disappeared from sight.
“As long as we stay close to each other, I can make you invisible too,” said Elerian in a pleased voice to Ascilius.
Despite the concealment it offered them, Ascilius did not feel comfortable being invisible. “How do you expect me to follow you when I can’t see you?” he asked, pointing out an obvious drawback to their not being able to see each other.
“Lead the way and I will follow you,” replied Elerian. “I can still see you with my third eye.”
Still not entirely happy with Elerian’s decision to make them invisible, Ascilius set off down the mountain, grumbling softly to himself. Using his mage sight, Elerian followed the Dwarf’s golden shade, reveling in the freedom of the open air and the night sky. Soon, however, both Elerian and Ascilius began to shiver. Grown used to the warm, stale air of the mines, they had little resistance to the cold wind blowing over the bare slopes around them when it played about their bare shoulders. In the distance, they began to hear the distant roars of beasts of prey hunting in the dark valley below them. Listening to their cries, Elerian wondered what kinds of creatures roamed the forests of Nefandus and whether they were similar to the animals he was used to.
The trail they followed wound back and forth across the face of the mountain, following the easiest path down to the valley below. Elerian wondered how many times the lentulus had walked over this same trail in search of prey, a not very reassuring thought that caused him to send many an uneasy glance behind him. The lentulus did not reappear, however, and he and Ascilius reached forest below without incident.
Elerian, who generally felt an affinity for all types of trees, found the forest before him uninviting. The trees that grew in it were dark and twisted, their bark an unrelieved black. They crowded up against each other, fighting for space. Many of them were of the thorny variety, with low growing branches filled with sharp spikes that waited to snare anything that walked by. Spring had come even to this dark wood, for the twisted branches of the trees were covered with new leaves. Despite the fact that he and Ascilius were invisible, Elerian breathed a sigh of relief when they entered the forest and the branches overhead obscured the night sky, giving them additional cover.
The narrow tail continued on into the forest, which was fortunate, for the wood was dense and not easily negotiated. Elerian wondered if there were Ondredon living here and paused for a moment to lay his right hand on the coarse bark of a chestnut that grew next to the path, extending a thin tendril of his shade into the tree. The whispers he caught were unsettling, all about strangling and crushing the two-legged intruders who had ventured into the forest. Silence fell as the trees realized he was listening to them.
“Do not step off the trail,” Elerian warned Ascilius. “We are not welcome in this forest.”
“I have felt the hatred of the trees already,” said Ascilius grimly. They continued to follow the path in silence. It ran in an easterly direction through the forest, toward the river. Elerian began to hear rustlings and harsh cries in the branches overhead and saw a type of bird that was unfamiliar to him. They were small, coal black, and their eyes glinted red in the starlight. They stirred restlessly on their perches when he and Ascilius passed beneath them, but seemed unable to penetrate the cloak of invisibility that hid them. This seemed fortunate to Elerian, for he did not like the look of the creatures.
As it penetrated deeper into the valley, the narrow trail, which Elerian and Ascilius were following, widened into a well-defined path. Elerian’s sharp eyes saw the prints of cloven hoofs in the bare earth. “There are other animals using this path besides the lentulus,” he said softly to Ascilius, who was just ahead of him. “A herd of wild boar has passed this way recently.”
“I could eat one whole,” said Ascilius without stopping, reminding Elerian of his own hunger. They had missed their meager evening meal, and the lack of food, coupled with the exertions they had undergone to make their escape, had given him a raging hunger. He kept all his senses alert for any game that might cross their path, but nothing edible appeared before them. Near the center of the valley, a wall of thorny brush as high as their faces reared up before them, growing between the trees in front of them to form an unbroken wall. Behind this woody screen, they could hear the murmur of the river that ran down the middle of the valley. Running north to south along the edge of the thorny barrier was a second, wider game trail.
While Ascilius looked for a way through the thorn bushes, Elerian bent to examine the second path. The ground was softer here, near the river, and he saw numerous tracks: deer, wolves, leopards, wild boars, and also, the prints of leather boots.
“Ascilius, look here” said Elerian softly. The Dwarf started at the sound of his voice, for Elerian moved so quietly, that Ascilius was never quite sure where he was.
“Where are you?” he asked irritably.
“Here,” said Elerian, and he withdrew the invisibility spell from his right hand so that it became visible. Directly below his hand was the clear print of a Goblin boot.
Ascilius found Elerian’s disembodied hand disconcerting, but he bent over to look at the print. Surprisingly, he was not overly disturbed. “We are in Goblin country, and you must expect to find signs of them,” he said reasonably. “This is, after all, their land, and they will hunt and patrol it, especially near the border, which is no great distance away from us. I am more concerned about crossing this river at the moment. We need to continue across the valley, but if we try to force a way through these thorns, we will be torn to shreds.”
“Why not follow the second path,” suggested Elerian. “At some point, the animals will have opened a path down to the river so that they can drink.”
Before Ascilius could answer, they both heard a heavy tread on the path to their left, as if something large was coming down out of the north along the riverbank trail. Ascilius looked up the path in alarm. “We had better get off the trail,” he whispered urgently.
“Give me a moment,” Elerian whispered back. Silently, he cast a parting spell. A small golden orb left his right hand, expanding when it struck the brush ahead of them so that all the branches in a narrow swath about three feet wide were covered with a golden film of light. The interlaced branches, covered with long, deadly thorns, grudgingly pulled back, leaving a narrow path that led down to the riverbank. Ascilius immediately ran down the path, followed by Elerian. Behind them, the narrow path disappeared when Elerian wove the branches back together with a joining spell.
Turning around, Elerian saw that he and Ascilius were standing on the muddy banks of a shallow, swift flowing river that was barely thirty feet wide at this point.
“We should cross the river, just to be safe,” whispered Elerian.
Reluctantly, Ascilius stepped into the cold, dark water, ripples appearing around his invisible legs. Luckily, even in the middle, it reached only to his chest, and the bottom was a firm bed of gravel and stones which gave him good footing as he braced himself against the current. Elerian followed close behind
the Dwarf, ready to seize him if he went in over his head in some deep hole, but they both completed the crossing without any trouble. As they set foot on the farther bank, dripping cold river water, they both heard the crackle of branches behind them on the far side of the river, as if some powerful creature was attempting to force its way down to the riverbank.
Ignoring the thorns that tore at his flesh, Ascilius scrambled on all fours under the cover of a dense thicket. Elerian wormed his way in beside him, trying to ignore the brambles that scraped his shoulders and tangled in his hair. When he was well screened by bushes, he turned around and parted the leaves and branches in front of him so that he could watch the far side of the river, where the brush was trembling violently along the path he and Ascilius had just followed. Elerian started when Ascilius whispered urgently, “Make us visible, now!”
There was no time to argue. Hoping Ascilius had a good reason for what he was asking; Elerian slipped the ring from his finger and sent it away. Immediately, he and Ascilius became visible. Moments later, a long, lean shape emerged from the brush on the far side of the river. It was impossible to tell its color in the starlight, but the small, overlapping scales covering its body glittered like black ice, reminding Elerian at once of the anguis he had slain in Ancharia so long ago. The creature had a long, wedge shaped head that it carried a good ten feet above the ground on a long, sinewy neck. Short, gleaming horns grew on the top of the creature’s head, rising above small, upright ears. A row of sharp, triangular spines ran from between the horns to the tip of the creature’s powerful tail, which lashed the air nervously like that of a hunting cat, causing the brush on either side of the beast to tremble violently. The tail ended in a triangular point with razor sharp edges. Leathery wings were folded back neatly along the animal’s sides. Its large, dark eyes gleamed as it turned its head slowly from side to side, as if searching for something. Finally, the creature dipped its head gracefully to the ground, its wide nostrils snuffling the earth at its feet. When it raised its head again and looked across the river, Elerian saw small, crimson flames flickering inside the rims of its wide nostrils.
“The beast is a dragon,” thought Elerian to himself in wonder. The dragon’s dark eyes suddenly seemed to look directly into his own. Elerian forced himself to remain perfectly still. He reminded himself that, even though he was no longer invisible, he was well screened by branches and leaves, and the light breeze blowing against his cheeks was carrying his and Ascilius’s scent away from the dragon.
The dragon dropped its head, staring distastefully at the water flowing by its feet. It would have to enter the water to cross the river, for there was no room for it to spread its wings. Finally, it turned around, returning the way it had come. Elerian heard it moving south along the wall of brush that lined the riverbank and breathed a sigh of relief. Unarmed as they were, he and Ascilius would have stood little chance if the dragon had crossed the river. He turned to look at Ascilius and was surprised to see a look of intense hatred distorting the Dwarf’s features. His eyes had a red glint deep in their dark depths.
“Are you all right Ascilius?” he asked softly.
The Dwarf took a deep breath, and his face slowly resumed the sober look it normally wore. “Forgive my anger,” he said quietly. “I hate those beasts and would destroy each and every one of them if I could.”
“What have dragons done to you to arouse such anger?” asked Elerian curiously.
Ascilius crept out of the thorn bushes and rose cautiously to his feet. “The grievances of the Dwarves against the race of dragons will have to wait for another time,” he said keeping his voice low. “We must move away from here. Dragons are both cunning and intelligent. The creature may find someplace where it can take to the air and return here; seeking to ambush us, for I am sure that it caught our scent on the ground.”
Without another word, the Dwarf plowed into the wall of brush that lined the riverbank, ignoring the clutching thorns that tore at his skin.
“At least let me cast a parting spell,” said Elerian, who had no choice but to follow him. “We will be torn to pieces if we continue on this way,” he said, wincing as the points of the thorns scratched his bare skin.
“No magic,” said the Dwarf, as he plowed stubbornly ahead. “Dragons all possess the third eye. A spell might draw the beast’s attention.”
Elerian now understood why Ascilius had asked him to remove his ring by the river. In the dark, the golden light of the ring’s invisibility spell would have drawn the dragon’s eyes like a beacon. “As it was, it must have seen bits of our shades through the brush,” thought Elerian to himself, “but not enough to make it want to cross the river to investigate.”
Reluctantly, Elerian continued to follow along behind Ascilius. Soon, they were both covered with scratches that bled and itched dreadfully. Fortunately, for them, the woods became more open once they left the banks of the river behind. Here, there were groves of oaks and chestnuts, with open ground covered with drifts of dark leaves between their black, misshapen trunks. They made better time here, and the ground soon began to rise under their feet, as they approached the mountains on the eastern side of the valley.
The night was well advanced when Elerian suddenly clapped his right hand to Ascilius’s shoulder and brought the Dwarf to a sudden stop. When Ascilius turned and sent a questioning look at him, he, too, heard the distant sound of harsh laughter through the trees that had caught Elerian’s attention.
“That sounds like Goblins,” whispered Ascilius. “We should swing wide around them.”
“First, I want to see what they are up to,” whispered Elerian. “I can use my ring to avoid being seen.”
“You can’t use the ring, not yet,” Ascilius whispered back. “That dragon we saw earlier may still be lurking about. If you use your ring, it may draw the beast to you. Let us leave well enough alone and go around them as I said before.”
“I am going to see what is going on,” said Elerian stubbornly, “with or without my ring.” He began to steal softly toward the sound of distant laughter. Shaking his head in disapproval, Ascilius reluctantly followed after him.
A WOODLAND FEAST
Elerian would have much preferred to spy on the Goblins by himself. He winced at each twig Ascilius stepped on and every leaf he rustled, but in truth, Ascilius was a fair woodsman and was noisy only in comparison to Elerian, who moved through the trees like a shadow. The sound of voices grew steadily louder, and the red flicker of a fire appeared between the dark trunks of the trees ahead of them. Stealthily creeping from tree to tree, they approached the fire. Soon, they could see a large clearing through the trees, where a wild, noisy revel was in progress.
A bonfire roared in the center of the clearing, sending red sparks whirling away into the air. Roasting on spits over the coals at the margins of the fire, where the heat was not so intense, were the browned, succulent carcasses of two forest pigs. Gathered around the fire and the roasting pork was a boisterous group of black clad Mordi. The Wood Goblins had set a small wooden keg of spirits on a tree stump and were freely imbibing the fiery liquid they drew from a wooden tap set in the side of the keg. Near the keg, a third pig reposed on a wooden trestle table and was under constant attack from the Mordi, who carved off large servings of the tasty meat with their knives. Black, wolf like shapes skulked around the edges of the group and under the trestle table, gnawing bones and tearing at their portions of the feast. Elerian could not readily tell if they were lupins or ordinary wolves.
The toothsome smell of roast pork set Elerian’s mouth to watering, and he began to consider how he might relieve the Goblins of some of their meal. Ascilius must have sensed his thoughts because the Dwarf seized him firmly by the right arm and began pulling him away from the clearing. Rather than start an argument that might lead to their discovery, Elerian allowed himself to be dragged away, but his plans were already made.
Without making any resistance, Elerian allowed Ascilius to lead him well aw
ay from the clearing, and then up the steep slopes that rose up before them, the sounds of revelry gradually fading away behind them. Thinking they were safely away, Ascilius finally released Elerian’s arm, but even as the Dwarf’s powerful hand fell away, Elerian called on his ring, vanishing from sight when he slipped it onto his finger.
“Stop!” said Ascilius in a furious whisper. “This is madness. You will be discovered and killed or, even worse, captured.”
“We will see,” said Elerian softly as he moved out of Ascilius’s reach. “Wait for me here or leave if that suits you better.”
A deep silence filled the woods and Ascilius knew that Elerian was gone. “He will be caught,” he thought angrily to himself. “I should put as much distance as I can between myself and the Wood Goblin’s camp while I still can.” All the long years of his dreadful captivity flashed before Ascilius’s eyes, but still he remained motionless. Finally, with a long sigh and many a silent curse, he began to walk stealthily toward the Wood Goblins’ camp once more.
Elerian was already far ahead of him. He sped silently through the forest until he stood once more on the edge of the clearing, watching the noisy feast that was still in progress. Secure in the knowledge that they were safe in their own land, the Goblins had set no watch. Seeing that the clearing was unguarded, Elerian stole out into the open. The Goblins did not worry him much, for most of them were already far into their cups, but he took great care to avoid their black hounds.
A noisy argument started near the keg, giving him the perfect opportunity to create a distraction. Two Wood Goblins were standing shoulder to shoulder before the keg, each trying to push the other aside so that they could be the first to fill their cup. Elerian crept up to one side of them and violently shoved one Goblin against the other. Off balance, they both staggered for several feet before colliding heavily with the trestle table. The table fell off its supports, and the remains of the pig flew into the air before dropping to the ground where it instantly disappeared beneath a snarling, growling pack of hounds. Several Goblins who were standing behind the table also fell to the ground, struck down by the tabletop. When they regained their feet, a vicious fight broke out between them and the two Goblins who had upset the table. Instead of breaking up the combatants, the other Mordi gathered around to noisily egg them on.