A moment later, Gwyrtha padded out from behind a tree. Justan ran up to her. She looked at Lenny with a wary eye, but nuzzled her head up against Justan.
“Hello, girl. How are you?” He paused as if listening. “Good.” He turned to Antyni. “Do you have another one of those apples?” She threw one to him and he gave it to Gwyrtha. She munched it happily.
“Well I’ll be barnshuffled.” Lenny said with wonder. “He’s got her tamed.”
The elf shook her head. “No, not tamed. Never that. It’s something else.” She thought for a moment. “Come, everyone, we must meet with the council.”
Lenny finished pulling his gear together and they started to leave. As they walked by the place where Justan had slept, Lenny saw the clean white blanket.
“How come he got the blanket and I got the galldurn pile of leaves?” Lenny asked irritably.
The elf shrugged. “You also had a blanket at first,” she explained. “Then Gwyrtha took it away and buried you.” Justan and Antyni had a laugh at that and soon Lenny joined in.
Chapter Twenty Four
Again Justan was surprised to see that scattered among the trees full of fall colors were trees bursting with green leaves as if it were spring. The further they walked, the more common these became until they entered a grove where every leaf was a brilliant green. The lush grove truly seemed out of place and it was disorienting to Justan when the light breeze blew autumn leaves across the ground in this small piece of spring.
“How do you get these green trees to grow in the middle of the fall?” Justan asked Antyni.
“These trees are imbued with our essence,” she explained. “In a hundred years, this entire forest will be green. This is a young grove yet, so only some of the land truly lives.” That gave Justan even more questions, but she raised a hand. “Shh. The council comes.”
A gust of wind filled the space between the trees with flying leaves, obscuring Justan’s vision. As the leaves settled, he saw seven elves dressed like Antyni. Lenny bowed to the council and Justan followed suit. The dwarf seemed to know things about elf etiquette that he didn’t.
“I am Lenui Firegobbler and this is Justan, Son of Faldon the Fierce. Thank you fer lettin’ us enter yer homeland. We promise to leave in peace and not to divulge the location to anyone,” Lenny intoned with his head still bowed low.
One of the elves stepped forward. He had piercing blue eyes and short red hair. He didn’t look any older than the others, but his eyes held a certain wisdom that spoke of long years, and Justan had no doubt about the elf’s authority. This one was their leader.
“We accept the intent in which your promise is given, but it isn’t truly necessary. One of our own has already spoken for you. Well, not you specifically, but him.” The elf pointed to Justan. “Will you vouch for the dwarf?” he asked.
Justan was surprised. Who had spoken for him?
“Uh, yeah. Yes I will,” he responded. “He is an honorable person.” At least as far as I know, he had to admit to himself. Gwyrtha’s mistrust of the dwarf was a little unnerving, but he pushed the doubt away. He had to trust his friend.
“Very well,” the elf pronounced. “You may both stay with us as long as it takes for your wounds to heal.”
“I’m sorry, but we won’t be able to stay fer that long,” the dwarf said. “We got a caravan waitin’ fer us in Sampo.”
“What?” Justan asked.
“Valtrek said he’d be able to tell if you was killed. As long as he knows yer alive, they’re waitin’.” Lenny paused. “Yer still going to the Mage School ain’t you?”
Justan thought for a moment. He had decided that he would go to the school, but his situation had changed. What about his bond with Gwyrtha? Was it something that would just go away? What were his responsibilities now? If he had to, he could travel elsewhere, but . . . no. He had his direction set. He would finish his two years and return to the academy.
“Yes, I’m still going.”
The leader of the elves interrupted. “You are a student at the school?”
Justan sighed. “Not yet, but I have signed a contract and will be inducted as soon as I arrive.”
“Hmm.” The leader mused. “It looks as though things have changed. There will be a different plan.” Then he turned to the council. They began whispering among each other so quietly that Justan could not hear. He was puzzled. What plan was the elf talking about?
While they waited for the council’s decision, Lenny turned to Antyni and whispered, “Pardon me fer askin' but, I gots to ask. How come you all got short hair?” Justan looked at the council members and realized that they all wore their hair short just like Antyni. All of the other elves he had ever seen wore their hair long.
She whispered back, “We must seed the ground with our essence to be able to grow our homeland.” She fingered the ends of her short hair. “It’s a beginning.”
The leader stepped away from the other council members and faced them again. He spoke in a formal tone.
“I am Elder Toinyt, spokesman for the Silvertree Council. Young human, our paths have crossed in a way that demands our attention. What you do next is of importance to us. Before you can go we need some answers to very important questions.”
Justan straightened his back. “I will answer as well as I can.” He had no idea what was going on, but had no reason to balk at their demands.
“First we must know what brought the two of you so deep into the forest.”
“Sir, I was traveling with the caravan to the Mage School and I had a disagreement with the wizard in charge.” He left out the details. He still wasn’t too sure about their relationship with the Mage School and didn’t know how they would react to his story of Valtrek’s betrayal. “I ran into the woods to think and I got lost.”
“An impulsive decision,” one of the council members said.
“I ended up surrounded by moonrats and Gwyrtha saved me.”
He described as best he could what had happened between him and Gwyrtha. Their eyes were all completely focused on him and they devoured every word. When he completed the story, he had to ask them a question of his own.
“Why do you all seem to know Gwyrtha so well?”
Elder Toinyt answered. “Gwyrtha has lived with us for the last ten years. A very powerful wizard who was a personal friend of mine brought her and left her with us for safekeeping. She has become one of us you might say. When she left the other day, we searched for her everywhere. We had promised my friend that she would not come to harm. We had no idea just how far she had strayed until we found you surrounded by the foul moonrats. We are in your debt for rescuing her.”
“No, it is I who am in debt to her. She saved my life several times over. If it wasn’t for her speed and agility, we would have never made it out of there.” He looked at Gwyrtha and smiled. “She is grateful to be back.”
The elder frowned in deep thought. “Do you know why she left us to travel in the Dark Forest in the first place?”
Justan concentrated through the bond and tried to ask her in as simple of terms as he could.
“I don’t know. She doesn’t know. She just felt drawn to the place. Gwyrtha knew where she was going the entire time, but didn’t know why.”
Toinyt looked crestfallen at that statement.
“I see. Well, he told me that this would eventually happen. I supposed that we had all just hoped that it wouldn’t.” When he saw the question in Justan’s eyes, he added, “The wizard told us that eventually, someone would come for her and that she would know when the time came for her to leave us. Perhaps that time is at hand.” None of the elves present looked pleased with that statement. Justan began to understand how much Gwyrtha meant to their people.
“But there is more. He also told me that we must not let her presence be known to any other wizards. He was afraid that they would want to study her and she would never be truly free. If you are going to the school, we cannot let you take her with you. She cannot leav
e us until you are ready to bring her with you.”
Justan’s heart sank. He had become excited to have Gwyrtha around and explore this new relationship. But the elder was right. After all, if Valtrek couldn’t be trusted, how could he trust any of the other wizards in the school?
“Before you leave this wood, I must have a solemn promise from both of you that you will not mention Gwyrtha’s existence to anyone until you have left the Mage School and Justan is able to take her with him.”
Justan and Lenny both agreed without reservation.
With the major business done, one member of the council hesitantly stepped forward. “Justan, son of Faldon, may I examine your bow?”
“Penytri! This is not an appropriate thing to ask of a Jharro wielder!” the elder protested.
“No, it’s alright. I’m not offended.” He held out the bow to the elf.
Penytri ran his fingers lovingly over the carved wood. He focused his attention on a small marking that Justan had not noticed before. The elf’s jaw dropped.
“This was carved by Yntri Yni himself!” The other elves gasped. “And it has a dragon hair string! If I may ask, young human, how did you come to possess such an exquisite weapon?”
“It was a gift from a good friend,” Justan explained, intrigued with the elves reactions.
“Truly a great friend he must have been. This must have cost a king’s ransom. Yntri Yni is a master of weapons, but he does not carve one of Jharro wood for just anyone.” Penytri beamed as he handed it back to Justan as if it was an honor just to have touched it.
Justan’s heart skipped a beat. He was aware that the Jharro bow was a very precious gift, but he had not known just how special it was. How had Jhonate been able to get it made for him? How would she have come across the great amount of money necessary? A grin stole across his lips. One would not give such a gift to just any friend.
Lenny didn’t understand. “What makes this bow so galldurn unique? I know it's got magic and ever’thin’, but there’s lots of bows like that.”
Penytri explained, “This weapon was made from the wood of a Jharro tree. They only exist in the heart of the oldest elf homelands. They are ancient trees that have come to possess a certain intelligence. They are so full of life that no weapon or tool can harm them. One cannot simply cut a piece of wood from one of them. It must be given by the tree itself. There are but a few Jharro weapon makers in the known world. One must be truly in tune with the spirit of the forest to convince a Jharro tree to give of itself like this.
“The weapon that Justan wields has a tiny part of the life-force of thousands of elves within it. It is said that the spirits of those elves grant the weapon its power. These weapons were once so coveted by greedy humans, that people did terrible things to get them.
“To keep Jharro weapons from getting into the hands of those with ill intent, Yntri Yni gathered the Jharro weapon masters together. They decided not to make another Jharro weapon unless it was attuned to a single individual. You see, Justan’s bow is attuned to him. To anyone else, it would be just a normal bow. There is no reason for someone to try to steal it.”
Lenny’s face lit up. “Now that’s an idear! I can’t believe I never thunk of that before. That would solve so many of my problems. Now how’d I go about doin’ it?”
He pulled a sheet of parchment and a small piece of lead from a pouch on his belt. He took a small pair of round-lensed spectacles out of a pocket in his vest, put them on the bridge of his nose and began to jot down some notes. He noticed everyone staring at him and sputtered, “What? My eyes are fine. I only need em’ fer readin’!”
That evening, they were treated to a large feast of succulent fruits and vegetables and tender meats. It was a meal unlike any Justan had eaten. Each bite of food brought rejuvenating energy. He could actually feel his wounds tingling as they healed.
Lenny made some of his famous pepper-bean stew. The elves were overjoyed to try it. They weren’t able to stand the heat any more than Justan was, but they kept coming back for more. With the combination of dwarven food and drink, the elves were in fine spirits. They danced long after dark before leaving bent over, holding their stomachs.
In the morning, Justan and Lenny gathered their gear together. Their plan was to travel through the woods until they reached the river, follow it up to the bridge and cross into the city of Sampo.
Two of the elves, Antyni and Penytri, chose to accompany them to the bank of the river. The council allowed Gwyrtha to come along as well. Once they reached the river, she would have to come back and stay with the elves until Justan was ready to leave the Mage School.
It was a pleasant two days. Justan and the elves amused themselves with shooting contests and betting on which curse words Lenny would utter next. The dwarf seemed to have an unending supply of them and the elves soon gave up.
Justan spent as much time as possible with Gwyrtha during the journey, riding on her back much of the way. Their bond grew stronger every hour and Justan was able to pick up more thoughts and understand more about this marvelous creature.
Gwyrtha’s attitude towards Lenny didn’t change one bit. Even though the dwarf went out of his way to be kind to her, she was constantly tipping him over or rummaging through his things. Once she even stole Buster and ran around for quite a while with it in her mouth while the dwarf cursed and chased her about. To Justan’s surprise, Lenny took it all in stride.
The time went by far too fast for Justan. Soon they arrived at the river. The elves took their leave with a smile and a bow. Even Lenny seemed sad to see them go. When Justan said goodbye to Gwyrtha, he wasn’t sad. Justan didn’t know how their bond would change with distance or time, but he knew that she would be there with him all the same.
It was strange to him, as he looked into her intelligent eyes. This beast should, in normal circumstances, frighten him with her very appearance. But this creature of nightmares had a noble heart. Justan scratched her behind the ears and was surprised to think that after all his years of single-minded solitude such an intimate bond would bring him comfort. When she left with the elves, he could feel that she didn’t want to leave him, though she too seemed to understand that they weren’t truly parting.
Lenny watched them go and scratched his head. “Well, son. You sure done lead a strange life.” He clapped Justan on the shoulder. “It’s time to get goin’. If we hurry, we’ll reach Sampo by nightfall.” They traveled along with Lenny doing most of the talking, telling Justan stories about the great Fandine River. The entire time they walked, Justan could feel Gwyrtha’s warm presence in his mind.
Chapter Twenty Five
The Fandine River started out in the peaks of the Trafalgan Mountains, where Lenny claimed that it was mostly troll piss. The stream was fed by springs and melting snow along the way as it traveled for miles down the mountains until it reached the hills. There it meandered around, carving deep canyons as it went. By the time the river got to the city of Sampo, it was wide and deep, with swift currents that were too fast for a ferry system.
When the road to the Battle Academy was built, a long bridge was erected across the river. It was called the Sampo Bridge and it was wide enough for two wagons to pass each other. The city of Sampo was built on the west side of the bridge around the crossroads. To the north, was the capital city of Dremald and to the south was the Mage School.
They reached the bridge before the sun met the horizon on its downward path. The bridge was carved with intricate murals depicting trade and battles and river scenes. The bridge curved up and over the river. When they reached the highest point, Justan could see the city in all its splendor.
The place was huge, sprawling over several miles. It was the largest city Justan had ever seen. The streets were crawling with every race of people from human to gnome and was lined with every kind of building he could think of, from shacks to palaces.
“Lenny, how are we ever going to find the caravan in this place?” he asked.
“They said that they’d meet us at the Winkin’ Maiden. It ain’t the best place in town, but they have space fer someone to leave their wagons. You know that Valtrek ain’t stayin’ in the inn.” Lenny continued down the slope of the bridge.
Justan realized something. “Lenny, one thing,” Justan said as he caught up to the dwarf. “Please don’t say anything about Gwyrtha.”
The dwarf scowled. “I heard what the elves said.”
“I know, but you can’t tell anyone. Not even Riveren or Zambon. The less people that know, the better.”
“Alright, alright. Keep yer galldurn britches on. I won’t say nothin’,” Lenny replied and led Justan into the city.
The streets were bustling with people. Justan noticed that everyone was carrying a weapon openly. Lenny loosened the straps holding Buster on his back. He grabbed Justan’s shirt and pulled him down so that he could whisper without being overheard.
Eye of the Moonrat (The Bowl of Souls: Book One) Page 26