“I am sorry for being so unclear. I do not always understand myself why things feel right or wrong to me, but I just know that we should not leave him here alone. He reminds me of myself not very long ago and you helped me. I wanted to help him,” Tomas responded, once more exhibiting a maturity far beyond his years.
“That was very kind of you,” Cairn replied, somewhat ashamed of himself for ever thinking of abandoning the young Dwarf. “I am prepared to have him travel with us to the city, but we must contact his family once we get there, and he needs to know that. We cannot betray him later. You must tell him now that those are the conditions and then let him choose if he still wishes to come with us,” Cairn said with finality.
Tomas happily agreed with Cairn’s request.
The young, green-eyed human walked over to the boy who sat waiting expectantly for a decision and said, “You are going to have to let your father know where you are once we arrive. Those are the conditions and if you agree to them, then you can join our party.”
Tomas spoke like a true statesman. Preston thought for a brief moment, and then replied, “All right then. It’s a deal. I agree to send word to my father after we get to Pardatha. I’ve never been to Pardatha,” he said excitedly. “Let me get my things together. It will only take a minute,” Preston declared, and he rushed off ahead without waiting for another response.
“I hope you know what you are doing, Tomas!” Cairn said fondly but quite sternly as the three of them started down the path. He had never truly doubted the boy’s intuition from the onset of this encounter.
This is becoming an interesting group
, Cairn chuckled to himself, thinking about how unusual this all was for him, the solitary philosopher. He could not wait to see Baladar’s reaction to his arrival now, accompanied as he was by his two new wards and Calyx.
He is expecting a serious cleric, someone who would instruct the heir in the ways of contemplation and reason. I hope I do not disappoint him too greatly!
Cairn laughed, comfortable with the choices he had made upon this journey, and more eager than ever to reach the city.
Chapter Twenty-nine
The Tammell hills were stark and barren. After Filaree and Cameron dragged themselves out of the woods, they collapsed, exhausted upon the ground. Cameron quickly stood up, brushing himself off as if he was covered with insects, and he refused to sit again.
“I would rather stand right now, my Lady, if you do not mind. The thought of getting that close to the soil does not appeal to me just at this moment,” he said without being questioned.
“Do what you will, Cameron, but we are safe for now. I must say, we did come close to learning more about trees and foliage than I ever really cared to know,” she joked in an attempt to lighten the mood.
“I am sorry that I cannot share your mirth my Lady, but I still feel as if I have things crawling all over me. I think that until I bathe in a proper bath, inside a proper home, I will feel the same. How could I ever have fallen asleep? What spell was cast upon me, do you know?” he asked hoping for some explanation.
“Not exactly, but they surely were trying to claim you for their own. You still look a little green, to be perfectly honest,” she said with a chuckle, concealing her real concern that in fact his skin was still quite green as were what used to be the whites of his eyes.
“I do not find your humor funny, Mistress D’Avalain,” he replied sheepishly, embarrassed by her levity. “Perhaps if it was you who woke to find yourself tangled in serpents made of grass and twigs you would not be joking so easily. Do I really look green still?” he asked, examining the back of his hand.
“Yes, Cameron, just a bit. But I am sure that it will fade with time. Besides, it matches your eyes,” she remarked.
“Very funny, my Lady. I probably will not sleep again in fear of waking up looking like a tree!”
“Well, you can stand as long as you wish, but you are going to get tired. The trees are no longer our concern. We have left the forest, and the hills are all that remain between us and our destination. If we can cross them quickly without encountering anyone or thing to slow us down, we can be in Pardatha by tomorrow morning. I would not mind sleeping beyond the Tammells tonight. Just past the foothills lays a large lake, Everclear by name, the banks of which should provide us with a soft bed for our final evening on the road,” she commented.
“I am ready to go whenever you are, mistress. Believe it or not, in a strange way my sleep in the Winding Woods refreshed me. I do not feel fatigued at all. The sun invigorates me,” he said in a strange tone of voice.
Filaree looked carefully at her best friend and escort and she tried hard to ascertain if in fact he was all right. She could see nothing unusual in his appearance, except for the fact that he really was a bit pale and not his normal color. She assumed that it would pass as the day wore on.
“Good, Cameron. Let us go then,” she said. “I can rest atop Nico. I would rather be mounted and on the move than reposing here anyway,” she commented, and then she leapt on Nico’s back.
Cameron climbed on Trojan and they were off, with Filaree leading the way. She carefully maneuvered the mare around the uneven terrain, avoiding the scattered holes that could easily catch her horse’s ankle. The last thing either of them wanted now was a lame horse. Picking up speed, she cantered through the low brush, and then they ascended a steep hill that rose before them. They rode in relative peace for an hour or so, making good progress across the hills. Few words were exchanged, and both riders occupied their thoughts with the previous events of the day.
Filaree’s only real concern was a potential encounter with the Wood Trolls that inhabited the hills. They were very reclusive creatures, preferring to be left alone to laze around and eat, rather than fight. But, if someone or something invaded their territory, they were capable of mustering their energy and going on the attack. They needed captives to help them gather their food as they despised having to work in the hot sun, and in addition their vision was not very good. Therefore, they enjoyed the rare wanderer who lost his way in the hills, trapping him and binding him with chains like an angry dog.
It was a singular day when someone escaped the Wood Trolls once caught. They coveted their prisoners and jealously guarded them from each other. Yet they flaunted their ability to sit back and do nothing while their slaves searched the hills for food. It was not a pleasant prospect as far as Filaree was concerned. But she was not going to be fooled by their trickery and fall unsuspecting into one of their traps.
She kept her eyes open and her wits about her as she rode. Water frightened them immensely, and they never ventured close to the shores of the lake. No Trolls could swim, least of all the Wood Trolls of the Tammell hills. They were too fat, and they avoided the water like they did encounters with the Dwarves whom they hated passionately.
“Let’s pick up the pace while we can, Cameron. The ground here is free of brambles and we can make some good time here without much risk,” Filaree said as she coaxed Nico into a gallop.
Cameron followed closely behind her, not wishing any more than she did to be left alone in these parts.
After a few more hours of uneventful riding, they spotted a grove of Perridon trees in the distance, short and thick, and Filaree headed for them hoping to rest the horses for a minute or two in the shade. Upon reaching them, she let Nico drop her head and graze and then she pulled out a flask of juice.
Passing it to Cameron, she said, “We have only a short way left to go. I am anxious to see the shores of Lake Everclear before us.”
Cameron took a long swig from the flask and passed it back to Filaree.
“I wouldn’t mind resting a bit longer, my Lady. My head is feeling very heavy,” Cameron replied.
His voice sounded a bit distant. Filaree looked closely at her companion and became immediately alarmed.
“You look pale, Cameron. Our last experience must be taking its toll on you now,” she said as she reached over and placed her hand on his cheek. “You are burning up with fever!” she exclaimed, and she jumped off Nico immediately in order to go to his side. “Here, I will help you down,” she said, as she assisted Cameron to the ground.
His legs were unsteady and they crumpled under him, bringing him to the ground in an ungraceful heap. Filaree knelt beside him that same instant and propped his head up, and she began to feed him a bit more of the nectar she still held in her hand. His eyes were glazed over and she began to question whether something more than simple fatigue was bothering him.
“Do you feel anything other than tired, Cameron? You look pale and your eyes are glassy. Your head is burning,” she commented with concern.
She did not bother to tell him again that his skin was even greener than before.
“I am all right. Really, just let me rest a minute,” Cameron responded, but his voice was unsteady.
In the meanwhile, Trojan and Nico were taking advantage of the sweet grasses that grew beneath the trees, and they contentedly wandered around in search of more.
As Filaree bent to give Cameron another drink, a terrible odor reached her nostrils. She did not have to think for long in order to recognize the putrid smell of a filthy Wood Troll.
“Don’t move,” she whispered to Cameron and then she stealthily removed her long blade from its sheath. She used her body to block the vision of the beast watching from behind her.
Once the blade was bared, she turned with tremendous speed and stood ready to fight. An enormous Troll stood not ten feet from her with his club in hand, drooling with anticipation. It hesitated just one second too long and Filaree was upon it. As quick as lightening, she used the sharp tip of her sword to stick the beast twice in the stomach, causing it to shriek in a guttural voice and jump back a pace or two.
“Leave us alone and I will not harm you further,” she said in a deep and serious voice.
The Troll was enraged at the hurt inflicted upon its fat belly, and it moved forward with an unexpected speed. But Filaree was ready, and she spun off to the left, turning and slicing the beast behind its right arm and eliciting another angry and hurt growl. The large animal saw Cameron lying on the ground and he chose to go after the easier prey, while still trying to avoid another stick from the one with the sword. But, once again she was too quick for it. Tapping the brute on the back with the flat of her sword, she caused it to turn momentarily as she maneuvered herself in front of it. Then she thrust her blade upward with both of her hands until it was directly under its chin. The beast was so tall that she was practically holding her sword vertically.
“Do not move another inch, or I will drive this blade home!” she said sternly.
The Troll roared in anger, but held its ground. Filaree saw the wooden club in its right hand and she knew that just one hit from it would smash her skull to pieces.
“Drop the weapon!” she said.
The Troll hesitated and Filaree pushed the sharp tip of the sword into the soft skin of the Troll’s neck.
“Drop it, I said. You won’t get another warning,” and this time, the big brute listened, letting go of its weapon heavily. Filaree used her boot to push it to the side.
Cameron was hardly moving all this time, and she was growing more and more concerned about his condition, wanting only to best this beast so that she could attend to him.
“We do not want any trouble here. We only wish to pass through. Leave us be and we will be on our way as soon as we remount.”
The Troll was surprised by this young woman’s temerity, and it could do nothing other than nod its big head slightly and carefully so as not to impale itself on the sword. Filaree retreated a pace, holding her blade in front of her now and aiming it at the soft belly of the beast.
“Back up, you!” she said, flicking the blade just a bit and causing the Troll to take a few cautious steps backward.
With her left hand, she reached and shook Cameron on the shoulder, while never taking her eyes from the intruder for an instant.
“Cameron! Wake up. You have to wake up,” she repeated. He opened his eyes but he could barely speak. “You must get up. We have to gather the horses and ride out of here. Can you do it?” she asked.
“I think so. I am just very tired,” he responded, and he sat up with difficulty. After shaking his head and attempting to clear it somewhat, he was able to get to his feet and feebly whistle for Trojan. The horse came to him immediately with Nico close behind. “I don’t know if I can get up in the saddle,” he admitted.
All the while, the big Troll was eyeing them and breathing heavily. Filaree was unsure if it wanted to run away or attack again.
“You must, Cameron,” she insisted.
She reached back, grabbed Trojan’s reins with her free hand and then signaled to the stallion to go down on its front knees. Cameron was able to drag himself onto the saddle, though he was positioned more astride the horse than seated, and Filaree let the reins loose.
“Move back now to that tree over there,” she ordered the Troll, as she pointed to a Perridon in the near distance. “And, don’t get any ideas. I’ll run you through with this blade as soon as I would anyone else who comes upon us unawares,” she said with meaning.
The Troll obeyed, not willing to test the nettle of this upstart maiden. Cameron was barely conscious, and she was terribly concerned that he was going to slip from the horse. She pulled her belt from around her waist and secured Cameron to the pommel of the saddle with it, looping it around and through his own belt and then pulling it taught. Finally, she leapt onto Nico’s back and reached for the reins hanging in front of Trojan.
“We are going to ride out of here now and I do not expect to see you follow us,” she warned it as she urged Nico forward. “I am as quick with a bow as I am with a blade,” she admonished.
Nico was prancing now, and Filaree had her advancing sideways as she moved out of the circle of trees to the clearing. Once beyond the bevy of trees, she picked up the pace a little, hoping to gain as much distance between her party and the Troll as she could without unseating Cameron. The beast walked to the edge of the shelter and silently watched them trot away. Then he raised his snout to the air and bellowed and the alarm echoed throughout the hills.
“Well,” Filaree began, “they will all know we are here now. Cameron? You better hold on if you can. We must make it to the lake as fast as possible,” she said, and she clicked Nico to a faster pace.
She could hear the hills resounding with the sounds of other Trolls thundering in response, and she hunched down on her mare’s haunches and urged her forward. Looking back over her shoulder, she could see in the distance what appeared to be a dark wall moving toward them at a very fast pace. Ahead, she thought she saw the reflection of the sun off of the water, and she wasted no time in steering directly for it.
The black mass was gaining on them, as Trojan was unable to travel too quickly with Cameron hanging over him, but Filaree did not lose hope. The water was getting closer now, and she knew that if they did not stumble and if Cameron remained secure on Trojan’s back, that they would make it. With only a hundred or so yards left to traverse, Filaree let caution to the wind and broke into a gallop, with Trojan following right behind.
The Trolls sensed they were about to lose the entire group, and ten of them crashed through the brush, raging across the hills in a frightening display of abandon. They were gaining on the horses, and Nico’s ears twitched nervously. Trojan kept up with them the entire way, but he seemed to be falling back a little bit now. Filaree slowed her pace a fraction and Trojan rode up to her. She grabbed hold of Cameron’s tunic, and together the two horses and the two travelers approached the bank of lake Everclear at a full gallop.
Into the water they crashed, creating a huge splash as they entered, and they immediately began to swim briskly away from the shore. The Trolls came only to the embankment, and there they began to beat their clubs against the ground, and jump up and down and trumpet with rage in their guttural voices, making a commotion that could be heard for miles around. But, no matter how much they wanted to capture the humans, they would not dare to venture into the water.