Edited 1/29/22 - all chapters are getting a overhaul. Things might not match until this process is complete.

I do not own the Inheritance Cycle. The Pellinor book series was used to help with some details- those I also disclaim.

Enjoy,


Serpent's Valley

Late that next day, they passed Teirm and that night was spent in the town of Arundel inside an reeking inn, where they scrubbed their bodies clean of filth, and planned to head off for the farmer's house, which Rose had learned was named Haven Cove, early the next day. Ailis told Rose and Tornac that the farmers' lived in an isolated dell that was a relatively simple ride from Arundel past a deep winding valley known as the Serpent's Vale, and to Rose's relief, they would be proceeding on the road, taking at most four days. From there it a short day's ride to Haven Cove where they would stay for a few weeks of rest, and in that time they would arrange their transportation south to The Varden.

Snuggling into the lumpy pallet, Rose mused abstractedly on some of the things she had seen and heard in the past few weeks. None of her thoughts led anywhere, and she let them drift through her mind, one after another, as unformed images: Teirm standing tall and white out of the fields; Tornac still and silent, astride Shadowless; Thorn gliding through the air, his scales gleaming in the sun like fat rubies in the evening sunlight; the minstrels playing in the marketplace of Cartama; Ailis' calm face, contorted madly with magic; glowing wisps of the fire; the bodies of the died men, laying limply on the ground as they rode away; a tiny black bird with a red crest on its breast…But that was her last conscious thought before she drifted into a dreamless sleep.

Rose woke before dawn. A cock was crowing somewhere in the distance, but that wasn't what woke her; she itched terribly all over. Scratching furiously, she sat up, and Ailis stirred sleepily and then woke instantly. "What's the matter?" she said.

"These things are biting me," Rose hissed. "I know no if they're bedbugs or fleas but they hurt."

"Probably fleas," said Ailis. She slid off the bed and stretched before stepping around Tornac, who was fast asleep on the middle of the floor of the little room, the room had only two beds, and Ailis and Rose were occupying them both.

Ailis told her to put on the dress, so Rose dragged it out of the pack where it had lain since they had left Ludène. Her skin prickled as she put it on, feeling its coarse fabric scratch across her skin, and she fumbled with the buttons in the back, unused to having to reach behind her in such a way. Then when Ailis had dressed as well, they woke Tornac and packed their packs and left the room.

Downstairs the only sign of life was the black browed cook in the kitchen, who was firing up the stove. He declined to serve them breakfast, so they left the inn, walking out into the sultry morning air. They unstabled their horses and found a bakery farther down the street, where Ailis bought three loafs of bread and some meat pastries. They ate the pastries on horseback as they trotted out of Arundel. The gate was just opened, and two grimy guards looked at them suspiciously as they left. Tornac gave them a cheery wave, to the guards' evident displeasure, and then trotted briskly down the dirt road by which they had approached the town. In little under a half of mile the road split into two, one made of stone and the other remained dusty, and Ailis lead them northward on the dirt road through the fog slithered wide vales of Teirm.

That day they rode steadily until well after dusk.

If Rose were not seeing everything through a blur of wariness, she might have enjoyed the ride. The weather was fine, but felt far too hot after being harassed by winter's tempests, and the sky was an unfathomable clear blue. Above them Rose could sometimes hear the faint twittering of a sky borne lark drifting high on the thermals.

The road pushed steadily downhill, winding past meadows of rich green grasses growing in wide terraces divided by silver streams or lines of trees laden with hanging mosses. Around them stretched a peaceful and fertile landscape slumbering in a haze of heat. In the distance there were white faced herds of cattle or wooly sheep grazed there or perhaps horses, flickering their tails in the wind, basking in the sun at the edge of shadowing trees. Never far from the herds were houses made of stone, edged with overflowing gardens, set in the hills overlooking the vale. Sometimes they passed small hedged fields green with heads of arugula, spinach, collards or kale, or lines of broccoli, cabbage, and cauliflower, or the cheerful pinks and whites of flowering peas. They saw many people: farmers with carts, or children skipping or intent on some errand, women with whickered baskets, and once a shepherd with his dog chasing bleating sheep away from the road.

When they reached the straight road through the Serpent's Vale, on the morning of the forth day, the bustle of human life stopped quite suddenly. In the moment that they reached entered the vale Rose felt a long absent presence mend together with her mind, and filching as she opened her mind to a vast emptiness, Rose reached out to Thorn's intelligence with her own and wordlessly greeted him.

The landscape they rode on was lonely and bare, swept by strong winds blowing down off the distant mountains, which were humped blue on the eastern horizon. No trees grew there, apart from stunted thorns, and every now and then they passed tumbling grey weathered granite. There were also other stones, which seemed to have been placed there by human hands: circles on top of hills that looked like massive broken crowns, some thrown over and some broken, some still upright but leaning like drunken men.

"These were here before humans migrated here from the sea, and date from the earliest days that Elves walked this land," said Ailis. "None know what they signified; even in the days before the Riders they were ancient and abandoned. It is said that they were set here by the Grey Folk who lived many of thousands of years ago. Some think that they mark tombs of their kings and queens, and some think these are places where they worshipped their gods, if they had any. Some of them have curious carvings."

"What do you think?" asked Rose after a long moment of silent riding.

"I'm uncertain. All I know is that the knowledge has been lost to the ages," Ailis said.

When midway came, the wind shifted. The clear weather seemed to be turning and a chill blew in from the westward ocean, bringing clouds hurrying into the sky. Tornac halted them so that he could get his cloak, and Rose unpacked her own cloak as well, and wrapped it around him.

A couple of hours later it began to drizzle. Then with a deafening clap of thunder that echoed throughout the valley, a heavy, driving downpour soaked them almost instantly, but before long the rain came to a sudden halt and the sky gradually began to clear of clouds, and as the day heated up and intense dampness blanketed the air making each movement a hard labor.

A little while after the rain stopped, they breaked close to a flowing stream hidden from the path by a line of tipping stones. As Ailis had bought out some fresh bread from within her pack, and broke it into threes, Thorn landed stridently down from the sky. Ailis looked up from the bread and watched as Rose bounced off of Starshine's back and ran to the dragon's side. They stood together: the ruby stunted dragon and his young Rider, brought together by a destiny that was impossible to guess. Although Rose had disregarded and even forsaken the dragon in the beginning, a wordless understanding had quickly arisen between them that had formed into a fast camaraderie. It wasn't only that they had been forced together in a relationship as a Dragon and Rider, nor was it simply the marking of two very different minds and hearts mending.

Their kinship reinforced Rose's youth; as they stood together talking silently, as they always did, it was clear that the child had not altogether left her face. Looking at their forms, a sadness seemed to gather in Ailis' eyes and her face became tender and abstracted, as if she saw simultaneously some other vision now far off, or gone forever: a memory of her vanished child perhaps, a sadness of losing the ability to witness her mature into a young woman.
.

In the waning hours of dusk, Ailis led them out of the Serpent's Vale and down a broken, narrow path that vanished quickly into a small, hidden woodland. Their way twisted and turned, heading steadily upward in a gentle incline. Long woody vines laden with purple spiraling wisterias hung above them, stirring in a slight wind. All Rose could see were leaves, veil after veil of leaves in the new spring green. The trees and bushes were still dripping, from the afternoon rain, and the earth was exhaling a damp, rich smell of rotting vegetation.

A little farther on they found a deep pool of green water that bordered on one side by flat, brown rocks and on the other by a narrow shore of sand. It appeared as if it were designed for bathing.

Ailis called them to a stop and Rose sent for Thorn, he was sailing high in the sky restlessly looking for prey, and then they dismounted from their horses and made camp on the sand. When camp was made and a fire glowed healthily in the night, Tornac walked to the stone ledge and stripped himself from his heavy outer clothing, leaving on his shirt and trousers, and dived into the pool. He swam around a moment and then floated his way close towards the sandy shore.

"Do you grand ladies wish to join me?" asked Tornac, shaking visibly in the water.

Rose sat up straighter and peered into the water nervously. "It looks very cold," she said.

"It is," Tornac said.

"Then by all means, enjoy yourself," Rose said turning away and looking into the fire.

It would an inexpressible relief to wash off the mud and sweat from the previous days, thought Rose sadly, watching as Ailis, too, unclothed to her underdressings and dived into the chilled water.

If you wish to be clean, said Thorn, then why won't you wash?

It's inappropriate, Thorn, Rose said. I am not undressing in a male's presence.

Thorn sent her a tendril of his amusement. You have undressed in front of me.

That's different, said Rose, rubbing her hand together. Besides, that was long before I knew you were quite this annoying.

If you do not wish to undress in front your friend then perhaps you should ask him to turn away until you get into the water, so that you too can swim, Thorn said, shifting his wings so to glide in the wind.

I can't.

Why, Thorn asked. Why can you not ask him?

I cannot inquire for him to turn away, Thorn, said Rose.

You cannot or will not?

I cannot, Rose said, besides I have no desire to swim.

Thorn sent her his disbelief and said, You cannot lie to me.

Thorn, said Rose with a huff, her feet shifting uneasily on the ground, the water is deep and I do not know how to swim, that is why.

Thorn was silent for a short moment as he dived toward the ground. Feeling his nearness to her, Rose looked up and watched as he glided from the darkened sky, landing close by in the sand. Folding his wings, Thorn snaked his head towards her and looked at her with one of his red eyes. Thank you, he said, for telling me.

Rose quickly turned away and idly watched Tornac and Ailis play in the water, they reminded her of children splashing each other and swimming. Occasionally a glowing firefly flew enchantingly across her field of vision, but otherwise all was still: a low hum of insect life filled the air in soporific music. Before long Tornac and Ailis emerged from the water, shivering violently, with stained blue lips and fingers, but by that time Rose had fallen asleep.

They were up well before light the next day, and ate a light breakfast of the tasteless bread and tough dried meat, listening to the sounds of birds arguing in the trees. Silently, as they had yet to fully awakened, they packed away camp and mounted their steeds. They urged the horses to a canter, and so they continued for a couple of hours as the sun rose into the sky staining the sky a pale grey with tings of a pale amber and ginger. Rose saw that the mountains was running closer on either side of them beyond the shrouding of trees, Ailis steered them away from the peaking mountains and off the track, so that they were forced to walk and battle their way through tingles of undergrowth.

As the woodland began to wane, and the golden rays of sun darted through the holes between leaves, Rose began to notice subtle notches in the bark of many of the trees that they passed. It seemed to her, that Ailis was following the marks in a form of guidance.

"We'll be well out of here and under a solid roofing by lunchtime, I think," Ailis said. "Not far ahead of us is a rock face with a good number of caves. It might be best for Thorn to locate one of these, so that he can stay there. I'd rather he didn't wander into these woods alone, there could be fugitives or Urgals."

"Are we not fugitives?" asked Rose. She looked involuntarily behind her into the woods, but saw nothing but the colors of blooming foliage.

"Not in the way I'm speaking of," Ailis said.

"Ailis, I hold no doubt," said Tornac in a low voice, "nevertheless, it's well to be wary, and if there are Urgals about, what makes you think that we shall not cross their path?"

Ailis looked back at them, and patted Lanorgrim's golden flank. "Nothing," she said grimly, "I only hope that we are lucky enough not to."

Rose bit her bottom lip uneasily and contacted Thorn, telling him what Ailis had said.

I will seek for this cliff, Thorn told her, but only after I search ahead for any of these dangers Ailis has spoken of.

Thorn reported back to her, not long later, that he found no dangers he could see, and that he found the overhang and a very comfortable cave overlooking a small marsh. The cliff, he said, is sheer enough so that no creature without wings will be able to reach it.

It is good news that you will safe at night, Rose said.

From all dangers, save for the creatures that look like leathery winged rats.

Rose laughed nervously, imagining a pair of glowing red eyes. You mean bats? she asked. I do not envy you if that is your greatest foe. They are quite mighty and yet I'm certain that you would win any dispute.

Grumbling in his mind, Thorn changed the subject to his hunting options, as the marshland was new to him, and he was eager to discover what creatures lay within its realm. For a long hour, Rose listened as Thorn remarked animatedly on the bulk of deer he already seen and to his delight a large creature that resembled a weasel.

The wood ended messily, gradually thinning out until the trees vanished altogether, and soon, Rose looked over a meadow full of wildflowers that lay before them, with grass that stood almost as high as her knees, in astonishment. Ailis had wandered ahead of her with Tornac following not far behind, who was glancing dreamily about the fields. Reaching a high hedge, Ailis unlocked a gate that passed into an orchard of apple trees, lightly burdened with pink-and-white blossoms. Petals littered the ground like snow, and among the white-starred grasses nodded daffodils and bluebells and crocuses of many colors. Rose shook herself, and frowning she walked dreamily through the valley and into the blooming orchard, and continued over a path of raked white gravel towards a beautiful house. It was a long, double storied building of yellow stone, with wide windows that shone in the sunshine.

After securing the horses to a post, they stopped in front of the house and turned in to the pouch. Rose was blinded in the sudden shade, and Ailis led her blinking through two low bronze eaves into a huge atrium flagged with marble. Spring flowers of all kinds, nasturtiums and daisies and bluebells, were planted in big glazed pots, giving off a delicious perfume. In the center, in the middle of a close-leafed lawn of chamomile, a small bronze pig stood on a stone plinth, water pouring from its month into a little pool in which Rose could see the silver and orange glint of fish turning slowly beneath lily pads. Rose relaxed slightly in the coolness and looked around. The atrium seemed to be deserted.

Ailis pulled a small brass lever in the wall, which Rose guessed to be attached to a bell, and then sat down on a wooden bench and stretched out her legs.

"Sit down," she said. "Someone will come in a moment."

"I thought you said they were farmers," said Tornac. He sat down next to Ailis, and leaned forward, looking quite content to do nothing for a moment. Rose could hardly blame him, and she felt again how tired and grimy she was, and how much she longed to wear clean clothes and to sleep in a proper bed. She looked over the grand atrium once more, and thought, as Tornac had said, that this place did not appear to an abode for someone as simple as a farmer.

"Padern and his wife are," Ailis said. "I thought the same thing as you when I first came to this place. I've learned in time that their fortune is as old as their blood and as deep as their compassion yet they are not nobility and wish to remain hidden their valley."

Rose nodded absentmindedly and turned to look at the fountain. The sunlight struck off the droplets in little prisms, and its murmurous music sank into hypnotically, as if it were a song of which she almost understood the words. She didn't notice the woman who stepped out of the house until she was only a few paces away.

Ailis stood up, extending her hand in greeting. "Voirrey," she said. "Greetings."

"Ailis?" she said. "Is that really you?"

The woman in front of them was strikingly beautiful, with vivid hazel eyes and olive skin, her grey dress fell softly around her trim form, shimmering like a waterfall. Her dark hair was piled up on her head and held in place with silver combs, and she wore no jewelry.

"The same," said Ailis. "How good it is to see you!"

The woman smiled humorlessly at Ailis. "And good to see you, my dear friend. I've missed you. It has been long since your path has led this way," Voirrey said.

"Far too long," said Ailis.

"What has brought you to this part of the world?" Voirrey asked. Then with a shake of her head, "But that can wait. You are probably in no humor to answer my questions. Please let's get out this heat before we talk. Come." The woman led them across the courtyard toward some stables. "We must attend to the beasts, first."

In the cooling shade of the sables, they said nothing more as they hastily unsaddled and groomed the horses, leaving them comfortably housed, snorting at a full manger. Then Voirrey led them across the courtyard and through the high doors into a wide hallway. It was made of plain stone and dimly lit by a silver lamp suspended from the roof, but it gave the impression of richness, there were gold hangings of heavy brocade on the walls, and Rose saw that many rooms ran off it. Some doors were open, and their light spilled into the stone floor, and far off she heard the voices of children. They put their cloaks in the hallway, they were all sticky with sweat.

"Well!" said Voirrey, surveying the group. "Who are these two?"

"They're Tornac and Rose." Rose bowed her head, and Voirrey, bowing her in return, gave her a swift piecing glace, but made no comment. "Tornac, Rose, this is Voirrey, an old, and dear friend of mine."

"You and your friends are always welcome here," Voirrey said. "My husband will no doubt wish for you to join us for dinner, he is occupied at the moment. In the meantime I will arrange rooms and, I except you want to refresh yourselves and rest."

So almost as quickly as she desired, Rose found herself in a graceful room with cool stone walls adorned with plain blue hangings. A thick pale carpet warmed the stone floor. And a curtained bed, draped with an embroidered mantle, was let into the wall. One side of the room held wide windows with white shutters both inside and out, these overlooked a reedy pond and in the far distance the purple hued peaks of the mountains of The Spine could be seen. By the windows was a cushioned window seat, on which a rich crimson dress and underclothes were laid out for her. There was no fire crackling in the grate.

Rose picked up the clothing and earnestly requested to be shown to the bathing room. The chatty maid whom Voirrey had assigned to show her around finally left her to her own devices. The bathroom was especially pleasant: it had many potted trees lining the walls that were painted a cool blue, the bathtub itself was tiled with a mosaic of dolphins and other sea creatures. Rose drew herself a cool bath, pouring generous amounts of oil into the water, and lowered herself in with a feeling of bliss. For a while she simply allowed herself to relax, emptying her mind of everything except the sheer pleasure of the freshening water.