Tano listened carefully to everything. A part of him still felt lost, and it looked like he might make a friend, here. Another part heard ‘orc’ and, repulsed, wanted to run or kill the boy in front of him.
He’d found Geldenvan with little effort. Walking through he felt like every tree watched him pass. Was that fear or hate in the air? And then he reached for some fruit from a tree. And the tree lifted that fruit, just keeping it out of the boy’s reach. He reached for another and the tree did the same thing. That broke something in the boy’s heart. He sat on a log and began to cry. When his tears dried some he simply gave his one plea, “Please?” To which the tree showered him with hundreds of ripe, well, maybe a little too ripe fruits. Hungry as he was, he simply thanked the tree and ate what he could. And with that he had a new appreciation for the world around him. What would Alba think about all this? A fruit tree with a sense of humor.
That kept him through the mud bogs of the Wizard’s Scrub. He found shelter against a storm, hung his muddy hose and robe out for the rains to wash, and sat by the remains of a fire only days old. Sure, he could work out how to lift the logs, even break them up for kindling, just by thinking about it. But fire? So, he sat there trying not to shiver, watching sprites dance between some cattails, and wishing he had a more practical skill set for surviving in a wilderness.
He watched the flock of sprites duck into the shrubs, which brought him nose to nose with a fair sized, wet dog. The dog’s thick pelt had stripes of bluish-gray and red, and looked very well cared for. The animal’s stiff ears swiveled readily, hungry for every sound around him. The dog’s bright blue eyes studied him about as intently as he studied the dog.
A sudden flash of light brought his attention to a new companion. The boy looked about his age, though he could tell, despite the gray cloak and straw hat covered with twigs and leaves, was thoroughly better built. The boy’s first words came in several languages, until he hit on one Tano recognized, “Hope you don’t mind. It’s a bit cool, out there.”
Tano’s heart jumped in delight. That delight must have read like the moons on a clear night because the newcomer began to smile broadly. He then added that story, about where he came from and why he was afoot.
When it all came to an end Tano wanted to say something, hopefully something that wouldn’t start a fight. After all, this might be the first friend he’d ever make.
That word? “Tusks?”
“Not that big but still there. So, what do you say?”
“No money, no prospects for any. Otherwise I’d be delighted.” Tano reached into his bag and pulled some fruit out, “Care for something to eat?”
Gwyn accepted, sniffed, then grunted something happy. With a gesture he introduced his dog as “Clean. She likes you, maybe we just be friends, for now.”
That broke Tano’s heart. A friend just for asking. And nothing more. He held his hands over the growing fire and had just one more hope. “Maybe you can teach me something of your woodcraft, make it easier for me to help you.”
Gwyn studied the boy for a moment. “How you be here if you not know all that?”
What could he say. The ghost of a tergon visited him in his cell and saved his life, taught him a trick or two, and asked him to help with a project, and that would make sense to these two? Maybe, but we still don’t know how to do that, um, friendly like. So, “Impulse.” No, not quite right. So, “To pay a debt.”
Gwyn grunted, and asked, “So, what do you bring to this?”
Tano wondered if it would be worth a risk to be that honest. He used that trick to pick up a small branch and placed it in the fire.
“That how it is, Sintr? And you could not start a fire with that?”
“Maybe, still learning.”
“They have schools for that?”
“Not anymore. I mean, it’s there, just not teaching it.”
Gwyn grunted. Then pulled some kind of frame out of a bag, a pot, and some rabbit meat.
Tano picked that pot up and held it in the rain. Might have taken ten minutes but they had enough for some soup.
Then, “How about some cattail root for that? If the sprites don’t mind.”
Gwyn grunted, “They might laugh at you, make you lose yourself in the bayou, but they don’t mind just that.”
What would Alba think about all this? His first good friend is an orc and his dog Clean. Who was now standing on a limb a til or more above them.
Rheal felt tired. She’d spent most of the day wandering the Scab Lands looking for answers to her many questions. The frustration she felt usually came just when an idea presented itself as an answer, then danced wildly into oblivion when Rheal tried to study it a bit more.
Most of her exhaustion came from not knowing where to go, or why she should go there. And, it didn’t help that she was getting hungry. Oh, the hunt was fair for that country side. It’s just that with her mindless wandering she didn’t think to catch anything.
Mind you, the smell of rabbit boiled with some herbs did smell rather good, at the moment. On the other hand she could feel the usual ache that told her the other face needed to come out. And no amount of glamour would make her dragon face look human, and the orc in that camp might not understand.
So, she changed, caught some fish, made a nest just outside that camp, and tried to settle in for the night.
She picked one trout by the tail and began to swing it into her mouth when this dog walked up to her. The intrepid explorer lowered herself while sniffing at her.
She offered the dog a share in her fish.
She turned her down with a good deal of thanks, and asked, in her own way, if she’d like a share in their fire.
That threw her off a little. Hospitality from this dog seemed a little out of place. But the faces of two more looking on in anticipation of that answer seemed to add to the puzzle while making everything just a little heartbreaking.
The orc seemed interested in her answer.
The other boy seemed caught between some very strong emotions, the least of which was embarrassment at being dressed only in a small piece of cloth to cover his interesting parts.
Well, what could she say? A breath, and she picked up the fish and stood. And remembered a small detail. “Dant Rheal of the Azuregate Mountains.”
“Gwyn, and that be Clean,” he said while gesturing at the dog.
Meanwhile, the other boy seemed caught. “All my life I’ve heard and read stories. Likely about as wildly invented as those about trolls and orcs.”
“It happens,” she said. “Don’t worry about it, Tano, it’s just one of those things.”
Tano grabbed his black and red robes from off the branch and began scrubbing what little mud remained on them. And then it occurred to him, she got his name before he’d even given it to her. What else did she now know about him? And who else can do that? And now he hoped the wet from the drizzle was enough to hide the tear now falling down his cheek.
Meanwhile, she joined Clean in studying the boy and wondering what made him that unhappy at the moment.
Well, the morning started with a mixed review. Tano woke with a desire. See, his robes had the worst of the crossing and he wanted to shorten them. Really, they didn’t help anyone walk any distance, especially when they were a finger or two too long. Well, he had a plan, just not the tool to change that.
Gwyn looked deep in sleep, at the moment, and he was sure that borrowing his knife without permission might be taken as good as theft by the orcling.
Well, he could wait. Meanwhile, he looked at the slate colored clouds and tried to remember any, just one line of weather lore that could help him at the moment. Nothing. And he wondered if it would be valid if he had one.
He noticed the fire all but burned out. Well, after watching Gwyn work on it he knew what he had to do. First, wood, then kindling.
He left his robe behind feeling it would just get in the way. Not too far away he found an old tree, dead and rotten, with some bark left on it that should serve as kindling. He looked at the tree, and focused that trick on it. We only need about a hand’s breadth and we’d be happy.
First he tried to ‘pinch’ the branch off. That didn’t seem to work very well. Then he tried to twist it off. Well, he got the thing to moan and groan and nothing more. And for some reason that seemed to break his already wounded heart. He sat on a downed log, rested his hands in his eyes, and simply said, “Please.”
Well, that didn’t work, either. A tree might look very dead before all life has left it, but a dead tree is no better help than a dead bug, I tell you. So, Tano gave up, stood up, and tripped on his first step out. There on the ground rested a log just a little longer than he wanted.
And resting next to where he landed he saw a bundle of herbs that looked and smelled very good to his hungry nose. So, he added some to his pouch, grabbed the log, and headed back to camp.
Where he noticed a new body and Gwyn looking rather disturbed trying to warm up the fire. The graceful lines of the new one made Tano think her a woman and very sorry he only had that cloth about his loins.
So, hospitality. “Hi, I’m Tano.”
“We met last night, Tano.”
That voice, “Rheal?”
“Yes. That was rather quick of you.”
“Your voice might not have the same timber, but,” he took a breath. “Um, can all dragons do that?”
“No, only a few of us. So what is that in your pouch?”
Tano knelt next to Gwyn and dug his treasures out. “Some bark for kindling, and an herb for the soup.”
Gwyn picked up the herb, sniffed at it, and set it down. “No, not for the soup. That be spiderwort, that be for the sintr. Don’t know what you’re doing—”
“—it smelled good.”
“—it clean your out before it kill you.”
Tano looked at the bundle of herbs. “Sorry. Didn’t know that.” He grabbed them.
Tano took his hand, “No, leave them.”
“But—”
“If you know what you are doing you can clean yourself and not die, especially if what you are cleaning might kill you. So, keep them, dry them, use them if we must.”
Tano spent a moment studying the herbs, the spiderweb leafs, yellow-green colors, stems, the little white blossoms, the smell they left on his hands. “Can I borrow your knife?”
Gwyn just handed it over.
Tano mounted his robes on his shoulders and grabbed a spot near his knees. Just as he began to apply the blade Gwyn grabbed his hand. “What you doing?”
“Fixing these things so they’re easier to wear.”
“Wreck my blade with that. Tell you what. Stand up.”
“What?”
Gwyn grunted and gestured with a hand that Tano stand. When the apprentice did Gwyn grunted. “A bit taller than me. I share what I have.”
Tano felt his heart go out from under him. “Thanks. Don’t know how I pay you back for that.” He almost lost the last of that trying not to cry.
“Why your heart so wet?”
In just that moment Tano wanted to be clever, maybe even laugh a little. “So, adopting me? Do I call you ‘pa’ or something?”
Gwyn missed the humor, grunted and shrugged, and handed over a rolled up tunic.
Meanwhile, Rheal missed the humor as well. “He’s never had that kind of friend.” She looked the boy over, and produced britches from her ‘Storage’. “You might have to make your own belt.”
Tano studied the britches while mindlessly receiving the tunic.
“Don’t want them?”
Tano looked into her eyes. “Thank you. Just, how did you do that?”
“With a Mæge as strong as yours and you don’t know?”
That kind of broke something in Tano. He pulled the tunic over his head and accepted the britches. He picked up the stick he’d used to dig up cattail roots and headed into the pond, pulling the tunic off and tossing it to shore before it got too deep.
Rheal leaned toward Gwyn to ask, “Did I say something wrong?”
Who just grunted with a shrug. “Not my story, miss.”
º
Tano, feeling like a spare thumb had taken Gwyn’s pack and carried it about as well as he could. Gwyn didn’t quite like it because it slowed them down. He kept his thoughts to himself because it seemed to make his new friend happy.
Tano, on the other hand, took the new lessons from Rheal to practice. Focus on that pond, see that ghost hand reach out and pull that stick in, then return it. He’d just about returned it for the twentieth time when he felt Gwyn’s hand on his shoulder. For some reason that’s the first he’d smelled that stench.
Rheal asked, “Should we burn it?”
“No, not evil, just is.” Gwyn said. “Learn what it looks like. Just now she’s eaten, so she stinks like death. Later, we learn what she smells like.”
Tano took a couple of sniffs, “My sniffer might not be as strong as yours, Gwyn.”
Gwyn grunted, “No worries, she smells strong even when clean. Like wet roses, only too many of them.”
“So, what is it?”
“Dwarf call it Orcbane. We call it Swampgard. They’s not plant, not animal, but something like both. You fall into its grasp you be half eaten before you be dead. Even now when this one’s eaten she will still eat you dead.”
Eat us dead. And yet it’s not evil, just is. That level of reasoning would have eluded Alba like a shadow in a dark room. That memory gave Tano reason to think about other things. “Rheal, I’ve learned more about the world, about magic, in the last week than I had in ten years at Sagewort. I doubt the mages there even believed in a Mæge—I wonder if that and Magus are related—so be patient, and let me learn what you can teach me.”
Rheal’s clothes faded from view. She took a breath, “Understood. I’ve lived in Glasserheim Port for my whole life. And still my understanding of human sentiments seems,” her form began to change, “in need of cultivation.”
Tano’s smile warmed up. “Glad I can help. Just know, your experience may change.” He turned toward the swampgard. “Meet me a week ago and I’d be the worst kind of person you’d ever want to see. I nearly killed someone.”
“And yet you are pursuing them? Why?”
What could he say, “Pay a debt; the ghost of a tergon suggested it after saving me from being poisoned to death. Maybe because I don’t know what else to do and hope this answers a few questions. Pick the one you like.”
“Your vardh suggest they are all feeding a truth.”
“Vardh?”
“That spectral serpent you use to lift things or take them into storage. It’s not just for that. It’s the life energy that feeds all your desires.”
“And you can see that.”
“‘See’ might not be the right word, but will do for now.”
º
Gwyn had his pack back and sang a song while walking at a fair clip. Rheal had taken to the wind for both pleasure and something more interesting to eat than fish.
Despite not having the burden to care for anymore Tano found a soft bit of grass and collapsed on it. See, he still wanted to strengthen his new found skills and kept lifting every rock and log he could find.
Meanwhile, Gwyn seemed to have gotten hit by something. The clouds had raced off about the middle of the morning and didn’t look to be returning. Despite stopping twice for a snack he did look a bit peckish, at the moment.
So, when Gwyn joined him on the grass he just had to ask, “You eat something your stomach doesn’t like?”
Gwyn just grunted while rocking his head. “Too much sun. Just need some rest.”
That hit Tano kind of hard. He’d forgotten that orcs didn’t like the day so much. Except Gwyn didn’t seem to mind. If the ranger hadn’t said something Tano would still be ignorant of it.
“There’s a tree just the other side of that rock. Maybe we can set up camp.”
Gwyn grunted, “Just some rest, I be good.”
Tano didn’t buy that for a kip. To prove it, he just stared at his new friend until he grumbled, dropped his pack, and turned over for a nap.
º
It might have been an hour, it might have been three, but Tano had reason to chastise himself. See, being the only other person in camp, however well built it was, it was his duty to keep watch until his companion woke and they switched nap time or moved on. Unfortunately, he woke with a start and noticed the day had aged rather well.
Of course he’d be the only one to really know that. Unless Clean wanted to tattle on him Gwyn would never really know.
Clean, however, kept studying a cliff.
“Well, Clean, what has you interested this afternoon?”
Of course, Clean might be understood by just about anyone paying attention, Tano still needed some time to be sure he did understand that mild grumble and groan. So, he looked in the direction Clean did and continued to wonder.
And realized he had some biological imperatives to take care of. He rolled onto his feet just a little too fast and landed on his knee. That put him in sight of a nearby shrub.
When he got back he saluted Gwyn. They then heard this voice echo out of a canyon say, ‘Whatever you want!’
Without thinking too much about it Tano grabbed and ‘stowed’ Gwyn’s pack and began to run.
Gwyn grunted at him. When their eyes met Gwyn gestured at Clean who was already trotting in another general direction.
Who’s to argue with that dog? So, he just followed the dog and her orc. And a smile finally warmed on his face as he thought about that turn of phrase.
It might have taken just short of an hour, but they found a camp with the most interesting mix of people in it. A gnome, a dwarf, a qintari, another orc, two people he’d never seen in a book, a few humans, and a thorn. That thorn seemed rather happy in that cool pool with mud being spread across xer back. And Tano’s heart did the splits, happy to see Dove, and sorry to have caught up so soon. He had three new friends and didn’t want to leave them.
Gus stepped carefully over two logs. After all, he didn’t know that smell, or why the logs ought to form a circle like that. Fresh fears of running from an undead bear battled it out with curiosity, each driving his feet forward. The darkness of an early night and the young Mother just rising did not help, nor the litter of old bones they’d found late that afternoon. Only his friends kept him on the task.
He crept low to the ground, using his fingers as support while he kept his nose working at the air. The muzzle under that hood looked bearish. Would a bear wear robes? Was he asleep? Is that why he didn’t answer their inquiries into his health?
Teau certainly felt it the best thing to do. So much so she spoke out, kept speaking when her new found friends advised against it. It got on Georgia’s nerves so she practically screamed her surrender. And when that did not rouse the berobed being, Gus volunteered to look into it.
Gus reached for the hem of the hood when two things happened. He heard a log get moved. He spun to tell Teau to stop when he noticed the new person stepping into the circle. Gus felt trepidation while looking at those hazel-green eyes under freshly braided red hair. The boy, dressed in a black robe with red shoulders similar to that of the ‘bear’ warmly smiled, studying the gathering, taking Gus in with special interest. Before the lycan could greet the new arrival he jumped and stumbled when he heard a noisy exhale. That exhale ended with three words, Lot they know.
“All that education and they remain ignorant,” the redhead said.
“The very definition of stupid, if you ask me.”
“Now see here,” Georgia began, “we thought you might need help. Sorry if …,”
“Need, Miss? No. Want?” The thorn rolled xer shoulders around. Then xer head, dropping xer hood, revealing xer lengthening mane. Not that it caught so many eyes.
Teau said it first, “It is a bear!”
“Bear? Hardly. Not even artemani, though they’ve lost their blood through neglect.”
“Community,” the redhead said. “Unlike the ulfgard who maintain their history and their love of their ulfkin.” He studied Gus until the boy growled softly. “Imagine the ballad behind that growl.”
“Did you think to bring water?”
The redhead reached for his flask. “Not much, really. I was sniffing for a clean spring when I heard this remarkable song with the lyrics, ‘Whatever you want!’ and I came in search of the rest.”
The flask offered more than water as the two took each other’s embraces.
Georgia scowled at Gus’ smirk. “Thought he might …,”
“He?”
“Ignorance, my sweet Dove, whose cure may yet work.”
“A bath, then? Then nothing would be left to imagination.”
“Or a story, lest my thornish glory should worry sensitive minds.” Llast sniffed at the air, “Heiss?”
“Now see here, troll …,”
“Mind your manners, boy. My house and hearth were destroyed by your kin.”
“Oh, really? Are they here? Please, point them out and we will test this claim before the crown.”
“No need, for my error is revealed, and I have hunger. So, about that water.”
º
They watched the dusk wash the day’s colors from the sky while the young Mother rose. Well, most did. Gus, Teau and Shagra did that to give Llast and Dove some privacy while they soaked in the chilly pool. Crav tended a meager fire while grumbling, slipping into his mother’s tongue for some choice phrases we’ll not share here, lest your mother reads this.
Georgia felt unusual. Dove and Llast shamelessly dropped their robes and everything else and slipped into the muddy pool. They shared some humor, caught up on recent history, and spread the mud over each other. Now, she’d seen Gus without his britches, usually while he slipped into his other skin. Yet he kept his particulars veiled between thighs and tail, and his skin under all that fuzz. Seeing Dove in all his glory, lit only by the rising moon and a burgeoning fire gave her a lesson in the male anatomy she never thought to receive.
She tried to focus on the wrinkles on the lake—why she didn’t just walk away she couldn’t tell you—and a family of rather large birds fly south. That brought her gaze to shadows emerging from a cluster of trees. Two looked human, the third, not so much. Two legs, okay, head, arms, all present. Except the body was horizontal from head to tail. Her first thought was that it was an animal. She’d never heard of one that looked like that. Her second, would they be friends or enemies?
Just as she took a breath to say something, Llast, Gus and Shagra stood up to take them in. Crav soon joined them with his knife bared and ready, “There’ll be no comfort for you, Beast! Not here!”
“Why?” Shagra asked, “I see no war coming.”
“Do you not see it? That beast leading them other two will bring ….”
“Fish, lad, stories and weariness,” the voice called from the new arrivals. “From ye’r voice I doubt ye have a scratch from shaving, much less a fight.”
“You’ve never met a dwarf, then?”
“Aye, patched a few, now and then. Just looking to rest, share a fire and some stories.”
“Stories,” Dove barked. “Share and enjoy.”
By that time the newcomers stopped short in the firelight. The one doing most of the talking took in each face. Xe growled at Gus, who felt like he’d just been told to behave, barely noticed Teau and Georgia, though xe backed up and sniffed at the girl a little longer, shrugged xer brow at Dove, then said, “Thorn I not know, first I’ve seen outside my iman’s stories.” Xe then studied Shagra. While xe started to say the same, Bo and Ce both said it together, “Sagician? Here?”
Shagra just looked at them for a moment, “Sorry, haven’t heard of them.”
After a moment of silence, Teau did what she felt to be the most sensible thing to do, “So, fish, we have a bit of fresh sage and lemon, though that is a bit green, and the fire is free enough to any coming in peace.”
Crav seemed to lose a little composure, “Not this beast, nor any of her kind.”
“Her? Your nose must be dead. Never mind, who be the captain of this gathering?”
“No captains,” Georgia said. “Though you might understand our concern over an orc in our midst.”
Xe just grunted, “There be no war here, no need to start one. We can take camp elsewhere.”
Llast spoke up at last, “We have not always been friends with the sons of Orcus, nor often at war with them. Let them join us, for there can only be better strength in greater company.”
“Have you not heard of the bloodshed they have wrecked on dwarf and man alike?”
Llast’s smile warmed up a little, “Oh, really? Are they here? Please, point them out and we will test this claim before the crown.”
Crav sputtered a little trying not to feel like he’s swallowed his own vomit on that. He then pointed at xer, “I’ll be keeping an eye on you, beast.”
“Then I’ll try to be more entertaining.”
º
Bo and Ce felt a little confused. A Sagician, and he didn’t seem like one except in shape. All the one’s Bo had ever met, the three on that station, seemed timid, defensive even. This one clearly worked out. Not only did he have a knife, they watched him whet it on an oiled stone, he knew how to care for it, and use it. While the smell of freshly cooking fish soon saturated their hungry noses Ce came up with an explanation that suited them both. Maybe his grandmother or greater-grandmother crossed like they did.
Gus returned, wolfed out, with a collection of herbs, for which Teau felt very grateful for. Mexi sniffed at the herbs and seemed quite surprised. “Where you get them herbs? They do wonders for them worms you be feeding. But not the fish. Leave it to the ‘copra.”
Gus sat and looked at xer, giving a slight whine most couldn’t have heard.
“No, be my trade to smell such things. You be wormy, I smell that. You eat a fistful of that at night, just swallow the juices, be right as dandy in the morning.” After a replying whine xe just added, “No, you be lean, that be fixed with good eating. But your skin be wrong, and the gas you give off tell me more. … What, you might look different but you smell like Gus. That don’t change so much just from one skin to the next. What you think, I be as nose blind as this dwarf?”
“Not nose blind, Beast.”
“Don’t know iman from the rest just by sniffing. Most dwarf know that before they think about it. You?”
Gus’ ears rolled around, and his nose followed. The sound of that whine felt, I don’t know, heartbreaking.
“What’s an ‘iman’?” Georgia asked.
“Mother enough to help you with your medicine; father enough to shove it down your throat if you don’t like it,” xe said with a squeaky laugh.
º
Clean squatted at the edge of that camp, trying desperately to keep her enthusiasm checked. She didn’t know if that was a dog or a wolf but it looked like her and that was enough.
Gwyn looked the ‘wolf’ over and gave Clean a scratch on the rump, just to let the dog know everything is okay, mostly.
Tano sat on his knees. He’d found them, found them both. And now he had choices to make. Choices he could until now ignore because the situation didn’t call for them. Do I stay with Gwyn or travel with Tano? Don’t I kind of owe Gwyn for the help and lessons and the tunic?
Clean’s whine brought him out of his revery. No, the choice wasn’t just his to make. And maybe Gwyn would like the company, especially of another orc.
“Gwyn, I know a couple of them. They’re why I came this way. Do we share their camp? Or say ‘hi’ and make one of our own?”
“We ask, they say.” He then took Clean under his arm. “That’s no wolf, sister. That’s ulfgard. See them feet? Not quite right.”
“So, like Rheal?”
“No. Ulfgard are like you when born. Rheal look like dragon when she was born. They grow up and their other face come out.”
“So, teach me. How do we gain fellowship with them while in the wilds.”
Gwyn looked at Tano, his face the picture of confusion. “How you do that at home? Just take care, some of them look ready to fight.”
Well, just as Tano shifted his balance to stand a new voice spoke up from behind him. “So, spying on us? Want to know what you can steal?”
Gwyn spun around with his knife ready to use, startling the maturing gnome into offering gestures of peace.
“Just sizing the company before us, my friend, for a chance of fellowship,” Tano offered. “Might I inquire why a gnome is so far from her pantry?”
“Coping with a great loss with an adventure.”
Tano turned to meet Dove’s eyes, and saw the anger lingering there.
What could he do? Apologize? Explain? What he did was remain on that one knee, lower his eyes, and simply said, “Sorry.”
“You came all this way to say that?”
What could he do? He tried not to linger too much on the body before him that wore nothing more than wet mud and twilight. The liberty Dove expressed at the moment looked very good, as did the physique under that mud. He studied Gwyn from the edge of his vision and realized he had an option. No, he didn’t have to go with Dove, the tergon just said to catch up. And that gave him some courage. “Yes, and maybe pay some debt between us.”
Well, Clean had it with patience. She jumped from their hiding place and trotted up to the ulfgard, and they spent a few minutes enjoying some nose time. Though, Gus seemed confused as to why those places seemed so interesting, he realized he finally had someone who knew this body to teach him how to use it better.
Tano took in a breath, and started to say, “No pressure. I don’t deserve it. Let me go with you, see what we can find together.”
Before he could finish, though he felt a wet hand on his shoulder, lift him to his feet, and turn him around.
“Llast?”
“My name, you finally remember?”
“Listen, I was badly lead, badly taught. I’ve learned more today than I did in ten years as Alba’s apprentice. That’s not an excuse, it’s just an explanation. You might say, I’ve tasted freedom and I want more.”
“And us your teachers?”
“Might help.”
Tano felt a new hand on his other shoulder. “Careful what you ask. You might get it.”
“Then let us share your camp, and see what dawn has to offer us. I think Clean, at least, wants a new friend, there.”
“Only if you share what story has brought you to us.”
Tano’s heat nearly leaped from his chest. “Gladly.”
He then spent a few moments caught between the embrace of two fellow students, and the mud they smeared on his borrowed tunic.
Meanwhile, Gwyn approached the iman. He pressed his lips together, touched his fist to his heart, then forehead. “This your camp.”
“No, just a guest, like you. Where your kit?”
“Tano has it.”
Crav grumbled under his burgeoning whiskers.
“No, sir, no need to fight. Had enough fight. Where you go maybe I help you get there. That’s my trade.”
“Vale of Arianrhoth. Doubt they let you two in.”
Gwyn thought for a moment. “Don’t know the place. We see when we get there.”
Crav’s response got drowned under Teau’s scream. “It’s a dragon, a fire breathing dragon. We are doomed!”
While the company looked in the direction she pointed, Tano walked to where the dragon landed. “Enjoy your flight?” Of course she did. What kind of question was that?
Rheal nodded. “Few dragons breathe or sweat fire anymore. Why, when we can just wish for it?” She then faced Tano and Gwyn, “Tergons flying south say there’s trouble in a town just half-a-days walk from here. They didn’t give details, just that it looks like they are ready for a fight of some kind.”
Mexoa grunted, “Wizard up north be starting another war.”
“Creb, I hope not. The land hasn’t healed from the last one.”
Tano just offered, “Maybe we rest for the night. These people have offered to share their camp, and might let us join their company.” He studied Ce and Bo, then Llast, “Who knows what skill we bring to solve this puzzled.”
He stretched his hand out and ‘unloaded’ Gwyn’s kit. “Fire by wishing. That would be some kind of skill to hold.”
“You might learn it.”
“Teach me what you will, Rheal. Maybe that will help you with your quest.”
“Just days ago you didn’t believe that would be possible,” Llast added. “And now you do it fairly well.”
“Must be some kind of story to learn,” Dove said. “From ordinary to wizard in a week.”
“That tergon I told you about showed me possibilities. No, not quite right.” He looked Dove in the eyes, “You did, and Chimatle finished the deed, and saved my life.”
Rheal expressed wonder at that name. “One of the Blue Wizards?”
“Like a ghost, to me.” He pulled the box from his pouch, “Gave me this and warned me of some poisoned food. And showed me how to ‘move’ things.”
“And did some healing,” Llast offered. “Your spirit seems stronger than it had been.”
Tano reached for his nose and realized he’d missed that detail. And maybe, “Maybe that’s why my heart is so wet.”
Rheal rested a now human looking hand on her friend’s shoulder. “Time to rest. I brought deer. Good thing with this growing company.”