The sun shone brightly high in the cloudless sky. The rays which landed on the backs of the travelers warmed the bodies, but did not burn. The drowsy day was hot and humid. Gusts of wind were infrequent and treasured. The flies made full use of this unexpected source of blood.
Despite the weather, Rina was in good spirits. Her week had been going well. After mastering the glow, Elmer managed to lift himself off the ground. Of course his levitation was too small to be noticed but the leaves did not crunch as he 'walked' around. His maroon glow had brightened to a blood red, an improvement, Tristan insisted, although Rina couldn't tell the difference.
The magic didn't tire him as easily as it first did. He was much more in touch with his magic; he no longer needed an hour to warm up. Rina was thoroughly excited to see him elevated, although she was a tad disappointed to find that Elmer could not lift himself with her mounted. She had been dreaming of a Pegasus, a dream Tristan assured her could someday be achieved.
The trees had thinned. The large ancient trees gave way to smaller saplings. The undergrowth, however, had enlarged. The bushes made it impossible to see more than a few feet. Signs of human influence were obvious. Stumps were seen everywhere and sometimes, clearings with signs of old fires. As they were ridding casually ahead, the herrks abruptly stopped. Rina and Phil were surprised, but Tristan was not.
"Hmmm. It seems that we have wandered off the road." He said, slipping off his herrk.. "Come see." He beckoned for Phil and Rina to follow. They did, after dismounting and leaving the herrks to graze on nearby grass. Tristan carefully pushed aside branches and looked ahead before he stepped. Phil and Rina did not and they dashed recklessly through the bushes. The brushes ended in an unbelievably straight line and Rina and Phil stumbled out. Unfortunately, an almost vertical wall of solid rock was a mere foot from the undergrowth. Phil managed to cushion his crash by throwing his arms out in front of him. He was unscathed except for a few minor scratches on his palms. Rina was not so lucky. She smashed face-first into the wall, painfully squashing her nose and scarping her forehead.
"Ugh!" She moaned as she tried to stand.
"Maybe I should have warned you." Tristan apologized as he arrived sedately. He watch Phil assist Rina.
"Yeah, maybe you should have." Rina replied, fingering her nose.
"Your nose is fine. Maybe a bit flat, but still intact." Tristan grinned cheerfully.
Rina scowled. "It's not your nose, now is it?"
"You're right. I should be sorry for you since you have a squashed tomato for a nose. I'm afraid it's going to cost you your beauty." He ducked as Rina tried half heartedly to punch him. He danced out of range and chucked teasingly. "Vain, vain, vain." He taunted as he shook a fingered at her.
"Tristan!" Rina cried, annoyed and amused.
"Sorry."
"Where are we anyway and what's that big wall doing here?"
"This 'big wall' is actually a mountain; an extremely vertical one, but a veritable mountain."
"Are we supposed to scale this 'mountain'?" Phil piped up.
"No, of course not. As I said, we got off the trail. There is an opening that we can
cross through. It's about half an hour's ride." Tristan answered.
"Come on then."
----------------------------------Phil's POW ------------------------------------
I really don't know what's going on with me. I don't know what I'm feeling, or why, anymore. Every time I see Rina with Tristan, some unknown yet powerful surge rises from the depths of my soul. I suddenly become angered with Tristan. I can't explain it, and I can't find a reason, I just am. I feel as if I should just march over there and snatch Rina away.
I'm not sure if this new feeling positive or not. I seem to be acting distant to Rina and Tristan. It's as if I've entered a bubble. I don't why. A few weeks ago found me enjoying their company, yet now I'm cold and alone. I'm pretty sure they've noticed it. Tristan seems to be bemused but he shrugs and continues blithely. Rina. . . Rina's worried. And I'm proud to say so? Several times I caught her glancing inquisitively over in my direction. Her eyes were filled with pure concern. Somehow, I always glance away when I feel her gaze, as if I'm hiding something. Why would I, I mean, we're friends, aren't we?
I had plenty of time to think on the trip to the passage Tristan was talking about. The passage was huge. About 20 feet wide and endlessly long, the opening could allow even a wagon train to pass through. Granite cliffs that nearly enclosed us stretched seemingly to the sky. Few plants, if any, grew on the well-trampled dirt road. Altogether, the obviously artificial passage (it had chisel marks on the cliffs) would have taken decades to complete. My respect for Keronian architectures went up a couple of notches.
Tristan paused to let Rina and I absorb the dimensions of the route. "Come on," he said once awestruck looks were washed from our faces. "Lets get moving."
Move we did. The passage was shaded from the midday sun so the ride was cool. I enjoyed the solitude until Kirby, who was until now sunning calmly on my herrk's neck, screeched and shot up like a rocket.
"What?" I heard myself say. A moment later, an arrow whizzed by, piercing Tristan in the arm. Tristan forced his rearing herrk onto all fours and plucked the arrow from its target. He held the bloodied point in the air for Rina and me to see. We all were dumbstruck when a swarm to arrows attacked us. We all ran for cover, but there wasn't any. This empty, clear passageway was the worst place to be in during an ambush. Fortunately, the swarm was short-lived. Unfortunately, about a score of stealthy men attacked us from the front. Three men dressed in completely brown leaped in my direction, swords unsheathed. My bay herrk swiftly backed away. I yanked my sword from its sheath where it hung from my belt. Jerrold had given it me the day we left Console to replace the one the weracore in the magical forest snapped.. He said it was one of the best and the strong, durable blade could easily withstand a fight. I sorely hoped it would, for my life depended on it.
I brought my sword into the guard position. I silently thanked my parents for including sword training as one of my 'princely' lessons. The first man leaped at me. I easily parried his attack, and pushed him backwards. Another man came at me from the ground. He faked a leap, than hacked away at my leg. Ignoring the pain I maneuvered the herrk away, the first man leaped and feinted a slash. As I moved to parry, he let fly a kick that knocked me off the saddle. I landed with a thud in the dirt. My injured foot complained as I struggled into a standing position. I slashed at the second man, and locked his sword hilt with mine. Summoning strength, I heaved at the sword, disengaging the hilt and forcing the man to topple into the first man standing behind him. The force I used caused my bad leg to collapse and I crumbed onto the ground.
Before I could recover, a third and rather large man holding a battle axe stood above me. Muscles rippled under the brown cloth as he raised the axe and brought it forcefully down. Sheer speed saved me that time. The axe landed where my head once was, a hair away from my ear. As he bent to dislodge his axe, I kicked with both legs. Despite his weight, he landed a few meters away.
As I straightened, I felt a prod, I turned to find my face under attack from herrk saliva. The bay herrk had come back. I stiffly mounted and glanced around. Over to my right, Tristan and Rina were besieged with attackers. Tristan received the blunt of the attack as he tried to defend both himself and Rina. As he batted away the attackers, Rina rode beside him on Elmer. Elmer had blood dripping from his head and Rina seemed enraged. A battle wrath flared in her eyes as she lashed out with a long stick, using the sheer force borrowed from her anger to knock the men aside.
I maneuvered the herrk over to Rina and Tristan and plunged myself into the fray. I managed to slash at a man and punch another as I fought my way to Tristan and Rina. Placing myself on the other side of Rina, I shouted to Tristan, "Are these men from Nargul?"
Tristan ducked as man tried to slice off his head. Grinning foolishly he said, "Judging from the fact that they want to kill us, I say yes."
I cocked my head to hear his reply over the sound of clashing steel and jerked my head back as it came within alarming proximity with Rina's whirling stick. The stick moved on to parry a man's sword. As she maneuvered her stick, I brought my sword in the air and jammed its hilt into the man's head. I heard a dull crack and all was silent.
I gazed at the scene before me. Bloodied bodies littered the scene. Some lay in heaps of brown cloth. Many were sprawled on the ground, their hands loosely clasping swords. Still others bore no wounds. These seemed to be knocked out cold. The ground was spotted with blood. Splashes on the cliff face told the tale. A large puddle was forming at the feet of Elmer. Blood dripped steady from another bloodied patch of fur on his head. "Is this all?" I asked aloud.
As if to answer my question, a dozen other figures leaped down from above. They landed gracefully, spreading out to surround Tristan, Rina, and I. I swallowed a groan. This was real trouble. We would never survive another wave of attackers. Tristan seemed to have realized the gravity of the situation. I heard him whispering instructions out of the corner of his mouth. "When I give the signal, we make a run for it. Slice at the men in your way and no one else. Ready? RUN!"
Together, we rammed head-on towards the forest. The men in our way did not falter to face a galloping herrk. Instead they braced themselves for the attack. I skewered one of them as I passed. I paid for it when his partner stabbed my thigh, just above my kneecap. I winced as the force of my gallop dragged the blade up my thigh. When the blade finally snapped, it had created a slice about a foot in length.
Clenching my teeth, I continued on. Luckily, we had just entered the passage when we were ambushed, so the outskirts of the forest were not far off and the herrks plunged gratefully into the jungle.
Somehow, and I really don't recall, the herrk shed our stalkers and found his way to a freshwater stream. He did not wait for me to dismount. Instead, he shoved his nose into the stream and nosily lapped up the cooling substance. The reins slipped from my slacked grip and his mannerism threw me off of the saddle. Landing in a heap at his feet, I crawled to the stream and dunked my sweaty and dirt-caked head into the water. I pulled it out and shook liquid from my hair. The herrk beside me raised his head and regarded me with a round, brown eye. Grinning sheepishly, I took a more sedate drink. Deciding that I had calmed, the herrk turned away.
Having drunken my fill, I turned to my wounds. Like the rest of me, they were caked with blood and dirt. I tended my femoral wound first. The gash ran down my thigh to just above my knee cap. It was quite deep at the bottom, almost to the bone, but gradually lessened as it went up my thigh. I washed it with water, careful not to spoil the portion that the herrk was greedily gulping. Blood was flowing anew and it took all I had not to wince. Tearing strips from my cloak, I made a pad that I pressed against the worst of the gash and bound it with the rest of the bandages. Using most of my cloak, I cared for the rest of my scratches. Besides bruises and small cuts, I had only a graze on that same injured leg.
As I was finishing up, a brown bulky figure trotted up the stream towards me. Wary, I pulled out my sword and waved it in the air to show that I was armed, although I knew I was in no condition to fight. The intruder did not heed my threat, but instead continued approaching. I waved the sword again, but my threats were empty. This time, I was in real trouble.
---------------------
An annoyed and disheveled Rina tended a slightly nervous Elmer. He sensed trouble, although he could not see it. His ear (singular, not a typo) flickered back and forth restlessly. Rina, however, was oblivious to Elmer's discomfort. Having only received minor cuts, she was washing out Elmer head wound with water from her water bottle. Careful to keep from pouring water down the interior of his ear, she rinsed off all the dirt and blood. Elmer winced as his mistress rubbed harder than intended.
"I'm sorry, Elmer." She said, gravely. "It's just these men made me so mad. They dare lay a hand on my herrk! And chop off his ear while they're at it! It makes revenge so much sweeter." She stuffed his wound with bandages and bounded his stump with cloth. His head was lopsided due to the enormous bandage strapped to his head. She repacked her bundles onto his back. "I hate to make you carry the supplies when you're hurt, but there's too much for me to carry." Rina said to Elmer. He swished his tail with indifference. Rina picked up the bow that Tristan had tossed at her the moment of the attack. She gripped it with her right hand and held Elmer's reins with the other.
"Come on," she commanded, "Lets go find Tristan and Phil."
Half an hour later, Rina had given up. After wandering in circles for an hour, she had returned to her clearing. She slumped dejectedly when Elmer tugged at his reins. Rina looked up. Once again, Elmer pulled his reins and tried leave the clearing. Curious, Rina followed. A few moments later, she heard voices. Letting go of Elmer's reins, she ducked behind a tree.
"Identify yourself. Don't repeat that stunt." The first voice scolded.
"I wasn't waving a weapon, unlike someone I know" a second voice said.
"I was too tired to fight anyway."
"But — what have we here?" The second voice exclaimed.
Rina glanced beside her. Elmer was gone. Silently, she cursed him. Then, she noticed something. The voices were surprisingly familiar. Correctly identifying them, Rina strolled in as Phil gasped, "Elmer?"
Rina surveyed the scene. Phil and Tristan were sitting on rocks by a creek as their herrks grazed in the distance. Phil had his crural wounds bandaged. Tristan's arm was wrapped neatly and a cut on his face went without a bandage. The herrks showed small slashes, but nothing as severe as Elmer's.
"Finally." Tristan said, "I was beginning to get worried."
"I was looking for you." I said.
"Well come and sit down."
"I see you took care of Elmer." Phil noted, nodding to herrk that had rejoined its friends. "Looks like you gave him an artificial ear."
"His cut was a bit deep, so I decided not to take chances." Rina replied, and noticing that Elmer's bandage was beginning to slip, added, "I better go fix it."
Ten minutes later, Rina was seated with Phil and Tristan. She sipped water as she listened.
"I think we shouldn't stay her for the night. The ambushers might come back and we'll be safer in the mines." Tristan said.
"I don't know," Rina protested. "We need time to rest and heal. Phil can't put any
weight on his leg and mounting a herrk will be next to impossible. Besides, you can't hold the reins with your injured arm."
"We can boost Phil onto the herrk and I know how to ride one handed. We, well I, have been resting for the last half hour and will feel much better without the threat of ambush." Tristan replied.
"Fine. How far are the mines?"
"Not far, we can get there before nightfall."