Darkwell - Douglas Niles [129]
"No want wine. Want rest."
"P-Please? Just one more – one more?"
Canthus and the blink dogs lay on the ground panting, their pink tongues lolling downward from widespread, drooling jaws. Yazilliclick had to admit that the pace was grueling, but he felt that they were so close!
"Where's the n-next gate? I'll g-go myself – myself!"
Honkah looked down at the little sprite with a mixture of annoyance and surprise. With a groan, he lurched to his feet and started again through the pastoral woods of Faerie. "I show you. Alone, you just get lost."
The troll lumbered through yet another flower-studded meadow, his long limbs wobbling from his awkward gait. Once again Yazilliclick had to take to the air to keep up, while the dogs trotted along beside them. Every so often one or two of the blink dogs would teleport ahead of them and then lie down, panting easily as they waited for the others to catch up.
The troll reached the high bank of a crystalline brook and slid down the mossy embankment to splash into the water. It was only a foot or so deep, and Honkah made a great show of soaking each of his huge feet in the cool liquid, grunting with pleasure.
"Here gate." He chucked a thumb at the muddy bank, where an overhang of roots and bushes kept the dirt in perpetual shade. Here was the ubiquitous moss frame that the sprite was beginning to recognize as the distinguishing mark of the gates, or at least those gates that led to Myrloch Vale.
Canthus and the blink dogs leaped down the bank behind them, eagerly lapping up the sweet water and then collapsing on the bank of the little stream.
"W-Wait here." Yazilliclick ducked through the bank, feeling a momentary tingle as he stepped across the boundary between the planes.
A blast of frigid wind struck his face, and a swirling eddy of snow surrounded him. The howling of the storm drowned his voice as he called out, as loudly as he could, for his companions. He stayed for several minutes beside the huge snowdrift that marked the gate on the vale side, calling to Tristan, Robyn, and Newt, but he received no answer. Finally, dejected, he stepped back through the gate, unmindful of the sudden heat that washed over the gate in the second after he departed. Nor did he see the wind die or the snow begin to melt as the warmth grew to a sweltering heat.
"It's no use!" He sat on the edge of the stream, kicking the water with his feet in dejection, while Honkah looked at him sadly.
Canthus suddenly sprang to his feet, cocking his head to the side and staring at the gate. With a quick bark, he sprang at the embankment and passed through. Yapping in excitement, the blink dogs followed.
"Hey, w-wait – wait for me!" The sprite flew after the dogs, fearing he would lose his one link with his human companions.
Yazilliclick stopped short as he burst through the gate. Could this be the same place he had visited a scant minute earlier? Oppressive heat sweltered around him. Steam rose from the blanket of snow that incongruously covered the ground. The blink dogs stood together in a pack, confused, but Canthus leaped ahead, barking loudly.
The sprite heard a shout of joy and buzzed after the hound. He came around a huge tree trunk and bumped into a massive form. Looking up, he squealed in terror. "Help! Firbolg!"
Then he recognized the giant as the creature they had pulled from the tar pit. In the same instant, he saw Robyn and Tavish. Tristan, buried under the joyous bundle of fur that was his moorhound, rolled on the ground beside them.
"Yaz!" Newt buzzed to the sprite and gave him a toothy kiss. "I knew you were around somewhere! And you found Canthus! You're back! But where were you? How come you didn't take me along? What's the big idea, anyway? If this was supposed to be a joke, I don't think -"
"N-No, Newt, it wasn't a j-joke – a joke! I g-got lost, and this is the f-first time I could f-find you guys! And I f-found Can-thus, and he f-found the b-blink dogs! Where are they, anyway?"
The sprite looked around, realizing that the faerie dogs had not followed