Rojuun (19 page)

She turned back to look at Sir Danth. His
armor was magnificent, but in a sinister way. When Adele and her
group of Druids had reacted fearfully of him, Liselle had begun to
think of the knight differently.

“Are you alright, Lady Liselle?” he
asked.

“Oh, yes. Thank you, Sir Danth.” She turned
back around in her saddle. Part of her felt as though she should be
afraid of the dark knight, but another part couldn’t help liking
him.

Vevin scared everyone else around her as
well. She had even seen Sir Danth watching the dragon warily a few
times. Liselle felt safe with Vevin though. The purple haired
dragon was a happy individual and it made her feel good. Whenever
he smiled at her, she made it a point to smile back.

Occasionally, a dragon would fly across the
valley when she was a child. Her parents never noticed them, but
flowers would point them out and she would watch them flying in the
distance.

Liselle remembered one time, about the age
of ten, when she was running through a field on a summer day.
Flowers drew her attention to the sky where a small dragon was
flapping erratically. It crash-landed nearby. Liselle ran to it
hoping to help, not thinking that it might be dangerous.

The young creature had an injured wing. When
Liselle went to aid it, the dragon turned on her with a hiss,
biting her arm. She had staggered away from it, bleeding badly
while the arm hung limply at her side. It was the most frightened
she had ever been.

Then an enormous shadow fell over her. When
she looked up, there was a full sized dragon landing. It was whiter
than new-fallen snow. The young dragon waddled to its mother
whining plaintively. Liselle fell to her knees crying, certain this
new dragon would eat her. The mother dragon touched the young
dragon with a claw. It glowed with energy, healing the injured
wing. Then the dragon moved to Liselle who trembled in fear. “I . .
. I only wanted to help,” Liselle said, sobbing.

The mother dragon said nothing, reaching out
with the same claw that had healed her baby. She touched Liselle’s
arm and the same glow came from the tips. Liselle watched in awe as
her arm became whole again with no trace of the bite. Then she
fainted.

Upon waking, the dragons were gone. Nearby
flowers were huddled around her, keeping her safe. Liselle didn’t
get home until after dark that night and her parents were upset
with her, but she always remembered that incident and the dragons
flying over the valley.

Vevin bobbed his head side to side as he
rode in front of her. She smiled at the sight of him. Hopefully,
someday he would let her see what he looked like as a dragon.
Liselle imagined that he was remarkable.

She looked past him to her cousin. Tathan
scared her more than Vevin or Sir Danth, though they were supposed
to be more dangerous. There was something dark and frightening
about her cousin that Liselle didn’t understand.

When she first saw him there in front of her
home, he had looked lost. She remembered him drawing his dark sword
on her mother. Liselle had never been so frightened in her life,
not even with the young white dragon.

It was the look in his face and eyes. She
didn’t know if he realized that his grey eyes became tainted with
black streaks when he lost his mind like that. His face filled with
fear and hatred and he moved faster than anyone could react.

For the first time in a while, she allowed
herself to think about the riders. Her cousin had killed thirty
experienced warriors without getting so much as a nick. Liselle was
naïve about the ways of combat, but not so much that she didn’t
realize her cousin was deadly dangerous.

She liked him though. He was nice to her and
talked to her like a person, not like a child. Tathan was
dangerous, but not toward her. He protected her, just as Sir Danth
and Vevin did.

It helped Liselle to sort these thoughts out
in her head. So many things had happened since Tathan arrived and
the two of them had begun traveling immediately after the attack.
The journey north had been filled with sorrow from the loss of her
family. At the same time, the trip was wonderful. There was so much
to see and the forest was beautiful. Tathan’s tales of faraway
lands helped her mind to focus on new things.

They had also discussed magic. Tathan showed
her how to create normal red fire, how to cast wards of protection,
and a spell to open a lock. He had her practice on a lock that he
kept with him.

He had also shown her a book of magic.
Tathan wouldn’t admit it, but she was sure he had taken it without
permission. There were words, runes, images of gestures and
drawings of the effects created within it. The problem was that she
had never learned to read. He admitted that he hadn’t when growing
up either, but had learned at the monastery. Later that night,
Liselle had asked the flowers if they could help her, but they
didn’t know anything about reading.

She remembered the story the Mother Tree
told her about her conception. At first, Liselle was upset, but
later became happy. She loved the flowers and they took care of
her. It had surprised Liselle when her parents didn’t understand
the flowers the same way. Her father looked at her as if she were
crazy when she mentioned it, and her mother looked at her in fear.
After that, she never brought it up again.

Now she had met Druids who were supposed to
be able to commune with nature, only to learn from the flowers that
Druids did not understand them the way Liselle did. The Druids had
more of an affinity for trees, though most couldn’t communicate
with them as Liselle could either. She liked the trees well enough,
but they were too stodgy and impressed with themselves. Flowers
were pretty and happy. They smiled too, trees didn’t.

When she was young, the flowers showed her
places that Tathan most likely never discovered. Flowers were her
friends and family, but she had the distinct impression most people
would consider her somewhat crazy if she went around advertising
it.

The horse she was riding whinnied, knocking
Liselle out of her reverie. Clouds above made the day gloomy and
her flower friends were positive it would rain. Soon, they would be
at the walled city and the adventure would begin anew.

It was frightening, but Liselle decided it
would be exciting as well. Besides, she had three very dangerous
individuals to protect her.

Chapter
17

Five days passed quickly and they were at
the Druid Village. From there they set out on foot, leaving the
horses and Liselle’s bow in the care of the Druids. After a day of
travel on foot, they reached the edge of the forest.

Grey stone walls in each direction were the
height of a four-level building. Numerous wisps of chimney smoke
from inside the walls indicated people living inside. They stood at
the southwestern corner and would have a bit of a hike to reach the
gate that was supposed to be in the middle of the western wall.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Liselle
stated. “It’s so large that it’s frightening. Do you really think
they’ll let us in?”

“The Druids said they will,” Tathan
answered. “These walls are larger than most I’ve seen in my
travels.

“This stronghold does not have very good
defenses.” Sir Danth pointed. “There is no one walking the top.”
They followed his gaze and sure enough, the walls were empty.
“There is no moat or trench around the perimeter, not even spikes
or stakes. It would be simple to use siege engines and ladders to
take it with little loss of life. I dare say a determined
individual could sneak over without notice.” He glanced in Tathan’s
direction.

“I could fly over, but people tend to panic
when they see a dragon flying over their city,” Vevin said.

“I think we should just go to the gates as
planned, and if that doesn’t work, then we can sneak over the
wall,” Liselle decided for them.

“Of course, Milady. That is the proper
course of action,” Sir Danth agreed.

“Good.” She led the way while the others
followed with bemused looks. A short time later, the companions
reached the closed main gates, large enough for a full-grown
dragon. Four human guards stood next to a smaller postern gate at
the side.

The guards put their hands on sword hilts at
the sight of the approaching party. They wore chain mail armor with
red tabards. Tathan cautioned his companions, “Make no hostile
moves and keep your hands off weapons. Let me do the talking.”

One of the guards stepped forward with a
hand up. He was tall with dark skin, thick shoulders, dark brown
hair and a bristly mustache. “Hold there adventurers,” he said in a
rough voice. “I’ve not seen you at this gate before. Are you
Druids?”

“Nah, we’re not Druids. We heard stories of
work to be done and money to be made.” Tathan spoke in an
exaggerated tone. “I didn’t believe it at first, but suddenly we
walk out of the dark forest to see this place!”

“Aye, it’s not normal for such a place to be
out here.” The man looked to be a veteran with scars from battles
past. Tathan’s manner had made all of the guards relax and their
hands were off weapons now. The speaker looked at them with
suspicion. “I’m Sergeant Soam. How did you get through the forest
and past the Druids? They’re dangerous ones, they are.”

“Nah, they aren’t that bad. They don’t like
strangers in their precious forest or something like that, but they
didn’t mess with us,” Tathan said in the new manner he was using.
“We didn’t see them much, but Druids don’t like to be seen.”

“Aye! That’s the truth,” the sergeant
agreed. “You don’t see them until they’re right on you. Then it
don’t matter. Lost more than a few foragers to them.” He shook his
head sadly.

Tathan drew back in surprise. “You send
foragers out into that forest? Not a job I’d want! We can handle a
couple of Druids, but I wouldn’t want to forage from their
forest.”

Liselle wondered why Tathan was surprised
until she realized he was being devious with the guards. The
thought excited her, so she paid close attention to how he did
it.

Sergeant Soam reacted well to Tathan’s
words, nodding in agreement with his sentiments about foraging in
the forest. “Aye. I don’t feel entirely comfortable here at the
gate. I’ve seen a couple of them from a distance you know?” the
sergeant said in a low voice, leaning toward Tathan.

“I’m not surprised. We saw a few on our
journey here too. I think they like showing themselves from a
distance to scare folk,” Tathan responded with a disgusted shake of
his head.

“Aye, true enough. No need to worry about
them inside though. The Rojuun have defenses on the walls that
prevent them from crossing over,” he said. “Druids know about them,
so it’s no problem to tell you.”

“Rojuun,” Tathan said thoughtfully,
pretending to have just heard the name for the first time. “I was
wondering what they were called. The person I spoke to in Tillg
didn’t know what they were called, just that they looked
funny.”

Liselle had never heard of Tillg and
wondered where it was and who Tathan had spoken to about them. Then
she realized he was making it up for the guard’s benefit.

“Ahh, Tillg. You’re from the Kingdom of
Kethril then,” the sergeant remarked. “So they know of the Rojuun
there. Some of us were wondering how far word had spread.” The
other guards nodded at this new knowledge.

“Well, it’s just a rumor. Most folks don’t
believe it,” Tathan said. “I was leaving Tillg anyway and needed a
place to go.” He continued with gestures, holding the attention of
the guards. “Didn’t want to go to the south. Got into some trouble
down there a while back,” he said, leaning forward with a wink.

The sergeant chuckled. “Yeah, that’s how I
came here too. Little bit of trouble on the other side of the
mountains.” His face became serious. “That said, it would be unwise
to cause trouble here. Rojuun don’t pay too much attention unless
threatened at which point they get dangerous.” Sergeant Soam took a
closer look at the group. “Well, you’re an odd bunch aren’t you?”
His eyes settled on Vevin and grew wider.

“Yeah. Civilized folks don’t like unusual
people. That’s why we thought we might stand a chance somewhere
new,” Tathan said, getting the attention of the guards back on him.
“It’s hard to live where people don’t give you a chance, you
know?”

The sergeant nodded. “I do know. Things are
different here though. Just don’t cause trouble and you’ll be
alright.”

“No trouble, got it. Say, can you tell me
anything about these . . . Rojuun? What do they look like? I hear
they got seven arms,” Tathan said convincingly.

“Just four,” the sergeant said with a
chuckle. “They have four arms with long fingers. Their skin is pale
white.” He described them in some detail. “The Rojuun guards wear
colorful armor, yellow and burgundy. The rest wear colorful robes,”
he continued. “Their hair is black and thick while their eyes are
like upside down teardrops with pupils like a cat. Amazing,
really.”

“That’s remarkable. I wonder what you could
do with two extra arms,” Tathan responded thoughtfully, waving his
about.

“Well, for one, they carry long knives in
each hand when they fight. They’re good with them too so don’t
upset them,” the sergeant warned. “Mostly, they use them to play
music unlike anything I’ve heard before. Or they paint. They seem
to like to make music and paint and things like that.”

“Seems like a waste of time to me.” Tathan
shook his head just like the sergeant. “What else should I
know?”

The sergeant gestured toward the mountains
behind the keep. “Well, if you’re looking for work as you say,
you’ll need to go through the tunnels to the city of Alluu. The
Cavern Road travels under the Caaldith Mountains all the way to the
Iynath Empire.” He pointed to the gates behind him. “This is the
city of Puujan, although most call it the winged city. I think the
names all have some sort of meaning to the Rojuun, but I haven’t
heard their language. They speak common all the time. Anyway,
Puujan here is more of a human settlement. It’s a good place for
you to start.”