Black wizards - Douglas Niles [70]
"Kamerynn, you big horse!" Newt shouted with joy as he buzzed into the oak grove and saw his old friend. He darted like an arrow to the unicorn, perching proudly on Kamerynn's long horn.
"Thank the goddess you're here!" he chattered. "Robyn has been having an awful time with the animals. Oh, she tries you know, but she's still so young. Now that you're here, I'm sure we can get all of these -"
Kamerynn turned his broad head to the rear, interrupting Newt's explanation, and the dragon was forced to grasp the moving horn tightly to retain his perch. The bushes behind him parted very slightly, and a tiny face looked timidly at Robyn. The unicorn gestured with his horn, and the little creature stepped forward.
Robyn saw that it looked like a small man, about two feet tall, except that it bad gossamer wings sprouting from each shoulder and long pointed ears. As the little creature bowed, she noticed two long things, almost like the antennae of a bug, growing from the fellow's forehead. She knew then that this was a wood sprite. He was dressed in a green tunic and cap, and he carried a small bow and quiver in his hands and a dagger at his belt.
"Welcome to the grove," she said, extending her hands.
"Yazilliclick!" cried Newt, diving from the horn to hover before the sprite. "You're here too! We should have a party!" He turned to Robyn, hovering up to her eye level. "Can we have a party, Robyn? Can we have a party, please?"
"No! Can't you tell there's something serious going on, Newt?" She felt genuinely angry at the dragon. He had been no help at all as she had struggled to control the animals.
Newt looked piqued for a second before zooming back to Kamerynn's horn to watch the proceedings with interest.
"I… I must tell you of the danger," said the sprite in a high and musical voice that sounded an odd contrast to the seriousness of the missive. Robyn understood his nervousness. Sprites were among the shyest of the creatures in the Vale. Though there were many of them in the surrounding woods, she had never seen one. She knew that it must have taken great courage to bring Yazilliclick here.
"There is terrible – t-terrible – danger abroad! We have seen the army that defiles the vale," said the sprite. "It is coming here!"
"An army!" gasped Robyn.
"That is not the worst of it – not the worst!" added Yazilliclick. "It is not an army of men, or llewyrr, or even firbolgs. It is an army of corpses!"
"Corpses? But how…?" Robyn was too stunned to think. Certainly the little sprite could not be telling the truth!
Yazilliclick nodded his head, his tiny antennae bouncing. He looked like he was about to start crying. "I d-don't – don't – know!" he wailed. "But they come this way – this way! And they are evil! Evil!"
None of them saw the great eagle dropping silently from the twilight skies until it settled to the ground beside them. The eagle's shape shifted and suddenly Genna Moonsinger stood beside them. Even in the dim light, Robyn saw that she was pale. She started to speak, and her voice was strained, as if she struggled to control it. She had obviously heard the sprite's last remark.
"They draw nearer with every minute – they will be upon us in two days at the most.
"I have sent the sparrows to summon the other druids of the Vale. We will gather here as quickly as possible. Perhaps together our might will daunt this force somehow." The druids of the Vale, several dozen in number, each tended their own sacred groves, scattered across the face of Gwynneth. Here, at the grove of the Great Druid, they gathered occasionally for councils, but for the most they were solitary men and women, seeking little human companionship.
Genna turned to look at Yazilliclick, and her eyes softened. "Thank you, little one, for coming here. I know how hard it was for you."
"I'll s-stay, to help," blurted the faerie, looking immediately as if he regretted the offer.
Next, the Great