by Trista Shaye
“That’s so sad,” Diana said, rubbing one of her arms with her other hand. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s just the way of things.” Kendel shrugged. “I know no other way of life.”
They sat in silence again, feeling sorry for each other and themselves and not knowing what to do about it.
“I’m sorry I lied, too,” Kendel said, looking shy.
“When did you lie?” Diana asked, looking over sharply. If what he had just told her about his family was made up, she was going to hit him in the arm, hard.
“Not a lie like not telling the truth. But a lie like not telling the whole truth,” Kendel clarified. “See … if I’m being honest, I shouldn’t have known about the magic behind the fairy ring and what it was going to do to everything, it’s not common knowledge. We’re only taught so much as regular mages by our teachers. But …” He gave a nervous look, like he was a kid caught with a sweet he shouldn’t have. “I may have peeked a little.”
He had been so brave when talking with the chief earlier, but this was the old Kendel she knew, looking bashful and awkward.
“Peeked at what?” Diana asked, sitting up straighter and narrowing her eyes.
“The scroll,” Kendel said, glancing at his feet and wiggling his boots.
“Wait, what?” she exclaimed, pulling her feet from the water with a splash and turning to face him entirely. “What scroll? Not the one it was written on?”
“Yes.” He smiled sheepishly. “We have them at Castle Majestic, all of the original scrolls with the spells on them. They’re hidden. I … I wasn’t supposed to find it. They’re very fragile you know, they –”
Diana figured he went on talking but she wasn’t sure what he was saying as she was too caught up in her own thoughts. Her mind raced as she thought about what it could mean. She really didn’t know for sure, but something about it seemed very important.
“Well.” He sighed and patted his legs. “Now that we’ve gotten all this off our chests, I feel better. Don’t you?”
“Take me there,” she whispered. Then looked up and said with more intensity. “You have to take me to the scrolls.”
Kendel let out a little laugh, but seeing her face firm with resolve, he gulped. “What? No, y-you can’t see them,” he explained. “They’re for mage’s eyes only.”
“Then why weren’t you supposed to look at them?” she asked, hands going to her hips.
“Weren’t you listening to anything I just said? About them being fragile and stuff?” he asked incredulously.
She waved him off. “I got sidetracked, sorry. But really? I can’t even look at them?”
“Nope.” He shook his head.
“Not even if you were there with me, looking too?” she begged.
“Not even a little.” He crossed his arms and looked the other way.
“Fine,” she said and shrugged.
“Fine?” Kendel stared at her with suspicion. She sounded like she had given up and accepted the facts the way they were, but he knew her better than that by now. She didn’t just give up when he had only said no twice.
“Fine, and …?” he prompted.
“Fine,” Diana said again, looking about as if she couldn’t care less about the topic anymore.
Kendel glanced at her then at the cave wall, then at her and back again, blinking several times. “Oh, well good. Then I–”
“Teach me to be a mage,” she declared. “Then, I can look at the scrolls.”
“Teach you what?!” Kendel spluttered, throwing his arms in the air. “You can’t just be taught to be a mage, Diana! Just like you can’t just teach me how to be a fairy, it’s not like that.”
“Why couldn’t I be the first fairy mage, hmm?” she asked, standing and beginning to pace, a fire in her eyes.
Kendel put a hand to his forehead and sighed. “It takes years, years! Not a five minute chant, presto, new clothes, and voila! You have to have studies and learning, and knowledge. You have to know the rules! You have to … you know, do stuff!” He was quite flustered. “And things …” he faded off and pushed on his temples with either hand.
“Well, I’m sure I could learn,” she decided with a nod.
“I’m sure you could, Diana.” His shoulders slumped and he looked up with a sad smile. “But not in the few days we have left. Time is no longer on our side, we need a plan for right now, not years in the future.”
She let her pride and ambition go and nodded, he was right. What good would it do to read about a spell Kendel had already told her about, anyway? There was no point.
Just then they heard pounding footsteps echoing through the passageway to the cavern and a moment later Shaarg burst through the opening and bounded to a halt before them. He was rather out of breath.
“We go, wizard sighted again near Dappled Peaks, weird lights, odd sounds, strange smells coming from that way, smoke and fire. We go, see what happen, see if dragons turned his side, or if they stolen from. My father wish to know if they friend still or foe.”
“Right.” Diana nodded as Kendel scurried to his feet. “And maybe we’ll catch this wizard while he’s still there. Maybe we can ask him some questions of our own.”
Seventeen
Their sudden departure morphed into the three companions spending the rest of the night in another under-marsh cavern that had rock shelves covered in soft moss for them to sleep on.
The scout who had informed the chief and generals about the wizard and what was happening in the dragon realm, had been nearly interrupted by another troll sentry who reported the wizard had disappeared suddenly, and all the commotion was petering out. Matilda had made the call for them to use the rest of the night to get some sleep, eat a bit of food, and set out toward the Dappled Peaks the following morning instead.
In all truth, Diana didn’t know how much sleep she would be able to get and as she sat on the second ledge to the right, she let her feet dangle over the side. Matilda handed her some bread, a strange vegetable, and a small corked bottle from her satchel. The gnome handed Kendel the same and took some out for herself as well, then went over to her own moss bed and perched on it as she ate.
They didn’t say much to each other; there wasn’t much to be said. Diana felt like all her words had been sucked up into one big circular reasoning whirlpool and she could only think of the same questions she’d already asked.
“Good night,” she heard Kendel say first and soon after she echoed his call, sliding up onto the ledge all the way and laying out on her back.
It was quite comfortable with the soft moss, and to her surprise she felt herself drifting off quite quickly with her belly full and her emotions spent. She hadn’t known exhaustion like this before and sleep felt almost like a sweet balm of escape even for the few hours that remained of the night.
When Matilda shook her awake, it felt like no time had passed and she had only just closed her eyes moments before. She sat up and rubbed her face, took the meager breakfast from the gnome woman dumbly, and ate slowly. She wasn’t feeling hungry but she knew they would all need the energy later.
“Alright you yahoos,” Matilda said, shaking her head at their lethargy. “We gotta get our butts in gear; we have a long way to travel today.”
Diana nodded, hopped off her shelf bed and followed after Matilda. She poked Kendel in the ribs as she passed his bed – he had laid back down and closed his eyes.
“Ouch!” he automatically said in reaction, still rather groggy. “I’m coming, I’m coming.”
Diana heard him get up and slog after her through the passage that lead to the marsh pool. She hoped Shaarg would be waiting for them to take them back to the surface. She wouldn’t be able to find her way through the murky water alone and swimming in it for longer than was necessary made her shudder.
The troll wasn’t there yet so they sat on the rocks that were at the edge
s of the pool of mucky water and waited. It didn’t take long, maybe a minute or so, and Shaarg was bursting out of the pool and into the passage. He took Matilda up first so she could confer with the scouts as to their best route for entering the Dappled Peaks and came back for Diana and Kendel.
Diana poked Kendel again as she rose to her feet to get on Shaarg’s large back. “Wake up,” she hissed, causing his head to jerk up quickly.
He waited alone for a few more minutes and tried his best to keep his eyes open. When the troll came back for him, he rose and nodded, slowly moving towards his ride.
“Here’s your colors back,” he said in a whisper, and he weakly threw his hands at the troll before they flopped back to his sides.
There was the smallest of sparks, then Shaarg peeked at his arms and hands; they were indeed covered again, but not in the way they had been before. He turned to look into the hazy water and marveled at his dim reflection. He looked very different from any of the other trolls now, and it kind of made him feel a little proud.
“Huh,” he grunted. “New hue never seen, color of sky here and here. Look good.” He helped the mage onto his back and then leapt down into the cold water.
“Shaarg!” Diana exclaimed as the troll surfaced with his rider. “You’re colorful again!”
“Yes,” Shaarg said, nodding, and helping Kendel off gently. “Not same, but maybe better. Going wear forever and ever.”
“I think it looks very nice.” She smiled. “Good job, Kendel.”
“What?” the mage asked, spluttering. The cold water had woken him up finally and he glanced around in a daze.
“You must have remembered what you did earlier, the spell you used on Shaarg,” Diana explained, walking over for him to magic off the muck.
“I don’t remember anything,” Kendel said, his eyes turned and he caught sight of the troll. “Ah!” he cried out and jumped back a little. “Who are you? Where’s Shaarg?”
“That is Shaarg,” Diana said, bemused. “Are you sure you’re awake?”
“Oh …” he muttered, “Sorry.” he cleaned them of the marsh slime quickly and they walked away from the bank and over to where Matilda was speaking to some trolls.
They found out that several scouts would be going with them to help lead the way and Shaarg insisted he come along for their added protection. If the dragons had indeed turned to the ways of dark magic and were helping the wizard obtain all power, the companions would need all the help they could get.
The trolls gathered a few supplies for their journey and then they set out, headed to the northeast and then mostly just east. They marched along on the ground, avoiding marsh puddles and sinking mud. Every so often they would pass a place where the black ooze was festering and Diana had to plug her nose and keep herself from running as fast as she could away from the stench.
Kendel put his foot into more than one mud pit and Diana splashed through a marsh puddle on more than one occasion. It was a very flat place, but it was hard to tell what one would find with every step.
The gnats began to pester them as the sun started its upward ascent into the pale grey sky. The travelers slapped at them and waved their hands in front of their faces constantly to ward the pesky things off.
“Why aren’t they biting you?” Kendel asked Shaarg as he stumbled over a grass root, trying to keep his balance while smacking at the back of his neck.
“Me troll, me rock and dirt and clay, nothing good eat here. Me also have mushroom goop in paint for color, keeps fly away.”
“Mushroom goop?” The mage blew at his nose to remove a bug. “Do you happen to have some of that on you now, by chance? Please?” His plea sounded hopeful.
“Umm.” Shaarg made a grumbling sound low in his throat. “Nothing of mushroom goop on me except colors. You could spell colors on you, like me in morning, magic them on self and keep bug away.”
“Yes well, I don’t quite remember doing that this morning and I can’t for the life of me remember what type of spell that would even be,” Kendel replied with a droop to his shoulders.
“I have some mushrooms from the cavern,” Diana said, stumbling her way over to them. “Are they the right kind?”
“Glowy ones?” Shaarg asked, sitting on his haunches.
“Yes, the ones that glow.” She nodded, shaking her head to dispel the gnats and pulling the pack off her shoulders. She set the backpack on the ground and flipped the lid up.
“Oh …” she said sadly, pulling out a mushroom she had picked yesterday. “Its died, it doesn’t glow anymore.”
“Not useless. Still work, work well,” Shaarg encouraged and held out his hand for her to give him the fungus so he could help them apply it.
Diana dropped the little thing into the troll’s large palm and pulled out several more. Shaarg mashed them together in his palms and when he pulled his hands apart, a wide stream of gooey sap stretched in between them.
“Here go,” he said and slapped his left hand on Kendel and his right on Diana.
They both exclaimed, “Ooff!” as he rubbed the juicy substance around on their clothes and exposed arms. He even put a few stripes on their checks, chins, and foreheads with his smallest finger.
When he had finished, he smiled at them widely and then took off walking after the others, his hands held out in front of him with what little slime there was left. “Mat-ill-da,” he called out. “Some for you left.”
Kendel and Diana shared a breathless stare.
“You look rather funny,” the mage smirked, pointing at her.
“Well you don’t look like the most magnificent of beings at the moment, either,” Diana fired back, feeling a little embarrassed at how she must appear with the mushroom goop all over her.
“Oh well.” Kendel shrugged. “If it keeps the bugs off, fine with me.” He marched away after the forward group and Diana picked up her pack to follow.
When the company of trolls and three other beings crossed the border of The Marshes into The Dappled Peaks, they were rather colorful and might have all been mistaken for trolls at a first glance. But upon further inspection, one would see three of them were shorter, less rock like, and had a slight glow about them.
They traveled for two days into the mountainous region, keeping an eye out for any sign of the wizard or of a dragon. But none was found of either, and Diana thought that was very strange.
They plodded through snowy rock trails, hiked up large ledges, and clambered over their sides to find even larger piles of white dusted rocks to climb over before they got to their next destination. The wind grew harsher and chiller the further up into the mountains they went and at times Diana felt short of breath and slightly dizzy.
The trolls were not bothered by the cold and kept up a good pace, though they weren’t all that fast considering they were basically moving rocks. But for the other three, it was a bit harder to cope with the weather. Though the mountains were absolutely breathtaking and the horizons you could see from the summits of even the smaller ones was beyond compare, Diana found herself feeling homesick and missing her cozy hollow and her silent inch worm friend.
Earlier that morning they had looked back from a peak in the direction they’d come, and in the far distance, Diana could make out the trees of her home land, The Magic Vale. She’d been bumbling along the whole rest of the day, feeling miserable and cold and quite wishing for a hot bath. She would even be more than happy to go to The Garden Glade with Matilda and sit in front of Farran’s fireplace with hot tea, listening to Andante sing the songs of his people. That sounded rather nice right about now.
They stopped in a shallow cut cave that at least blocked the wind to set up camp for the night. Kendel went off down the path a ways to relieve himself and Matilda helped the trolls put up their small shelters – just simple sheets to help block more of the wind. They couldn’t have a fire because there was n
o wood on the mountain peaks and they hadn’t brought any with them because there wasn’t any to be had in The Marsh.
Diana sat on a jutting out stone, her elbows on her knees and her head in her hands. She felt utterly miserable and she didn’t care who knew it. She took the stiff bread that was handed her and after staring at it for a time, trying to decide whether she wanted to eat it or not. She tried to take a few bites. It was stale and dull and the crumbs fell everywhere. She sighed, stood, scuffled over to Shaarg and offered him the rest.
She walked a little ways away from the camp and stared out into the distance at nothing in particular. She felt grumpy and brooding and this seemed like the best thing to do to accompany her feelings.
She crossed her arms over her chest and stuffed her hands in her armpits for warmth. She still had Matilda’s borrowed cloak on, but it didn’t help too much and her normal clothes weren’t exactly made for this type of weather. She had winter clothes back home, but when they had set out on the adventure, she hadn't planned on ending up in a frozen, apparently deserted land.
“See.” Kendel’s sudden appearance beside her startled her. He stuffed his hands up in his armpits as well and looked at the nothing she was staring at. “Adventures are quite unfortunate; something like this usually ends up happening and you can’t get out of it.”
“It’s definitely not the best,” Diana agreed. “I really just want to go home, you know. To the places I know and my friends there. I do miss it.”
Kendel nodded. “I miss my home, too. But I’m not as eager to get back there because there’s a crazy lunatic wizard on a rampage and he might not let me hang around long if he learned I was aware he’s a traitor.”
“True. Probably not the best place to be right now.” Diana shivered. “I think I’m freezing slowly. Tomorrow, if I don’t get up, just take me back to the sun and thaw me out in a bowl.”
“I’ll do my best to remember.” He nodded seriously, then squinted and pointed down towards a narrow walkway in a gorge that ran through the mountainside. “What’s that, do you think?”