Darkwalker on Moonshae - Douglas Niles [59]
“My, but you are slow. If you want to creep along, well, it’ll take us all night to get there, and I’ll just have to have a bite to eat before we go because, you see, flying like this is very hard work, very hard work indeed. If I don’t eat, well, I’ll just collapse in a heap, and then I won’t be of any use to anybody, least of all you or me, who are the people I could be of some use to if I had something to -”
Tristan burst out laughing, to Newt’s obvious chagrin. The little dragon sniffed, hoisted his scaly snout into the air, and turned his back on the prince.
“I’m sorry,” the prince said. “But my friends are camped over…” He turned, and realized he hadn’t the slightest notion of where he was.
“Oh, them,” the dragon said, obviously disappointed.
“I thought that perhaps the two of us…”
“They are my companions on a quest to save a man’s life!” Tristan said sternly. “I cannot abandon them, although we would welcome your company. I have a feeling that the Big Cave will hold the answers to several of our questions.”
“Very well.” The little dragon heaved a massive sigh of resignation. But he proceeded to lead Tristan swiftly through the fen, forcing the prince to stumble often in the darkened thickets. Nonetheless, the dragon followed a path over dry ground, allowing the human to avoid the many ponds and marshes sprawling across his path.
Tristan ran, stumbled, and crawled forward for nearly half an hour. He grew more and more amazed at the way the dragon had drawn him away from the camp. He had assumed that it was at most five minutes away. Finally, he crashed through a thicket of thorny branches into the circle of firelight. All of his companions, awake, stared at him in astonishment.
“What in the world happened to you?” cried Robyn in a mixture of relief and alarm. “We were just getting ready to start searching.”
Pawldo, meanwhile, jumped backward and drew his sword. “Dragon!” he cried, confronting Newt with the steely tip. For his part, the little dragon blinked out of sight, reappearing behind the prince and staring huffily over his shoulder.
“This is Newt,” Tristan explained, and introduced his companions in return. “Newt sort of played a joke on me, and the next thing I knew I was out somewhere in the middle of the fens!”
“I knew it!” Pawldo’s voice quivered with righteous indignation. “Sorcery!”
“Well, I’ve never been so insulted in my life!” It was Newt’s turn for indignation. “Sorcery my scales! It’s nothing more than a little visual-tactile illusion, and perhaps some minor hypnosis, but not sorcery! Why, I’ve a good mind to make you find the Big Cave yourselves, or maybe I’ll just go tell those big ugly people that you’re here, and let them come and take care of you!”
“Wait a minute,” interjected Tristan, turning to his friends. “Newt has told me about some creatures that have built a ‘big cave’ around here. I bet they are Firbolgs and that is where Keren is!”
“Who’s Keren?” asked Newt.
“Our friend – we’re here to try and rescue him. He’s the greatest bard among the Ffolk!” said Tristan.
“Oh, the bard!” Newt squealed with excitement at the recognition. “I saw them bring him in – he’s probably dead by now. I hope that doesn’t mean you’ll go home, does it? Oh, I would hate that – and just when we’re starting to -”
“Dead?” Robyn’s face went white. “Are you sure?”
“Well, no,” replied the dragon, miffed at the interruption. “He might be alive, but when they dragged him into the Big Cave, he didn’t look too good.”
“We must find out!” declared Tristan. “Will you show us the cave?”
“Not if you keep up this talk about sorcery and sordid stuff like that!” With remarkable conciseness, Newt stated his point.
“We’re sorry,” Tristan said. “We won’t do it again, will we… Pawldo?”
The halfling looked about to object, but instead he grunted his agreement.
“Well, after a little bite to eat, I’ll show you.” Newt came to rest next to a saddlebag of provisions, and curiously looked inside. “Hmmm, cheese… oh my, and sausage! How splendid!”
In a second, the little dragon had pulled forth a link of