DragonKnight - Donita K. Paul [100]
Dar would be chastising me if he were here, Greer…Guilty as charged. Again I’ve been focused on images in my mind of rivers too wild to be crossed, chasms too deep to fathom, and trails too twisted to follow, while Wulder has painted a picture to gladden my heart right in front of me…Yes, I know there are numerous principles to quote about the folly of the mind’s eye. You needn’t remind me…It would appear that Wulder Himself is doing a good job of reminding me, so you can relax in your duty to keep me in line.
They traveled more east than north at this point. Herds of wild animals scattered as the dragons flew overhead. Streams meandered through the steppes and joined a river crossing the plain. In the distance, mountains rose out of the plains. At the second rest stop for the day, Bromptotterpindosset, Bardon, and Captain Anton decided to make camp and study the charts.
The boys explored. Sittiponder held on to his walking stick and Ahnek’s arm. He ran as fast as the o’rant boy and listened intently as the sighted boy described each new wonder. Granny Kye got out her paints. Holt helped with a saddle sore one of the dragons had developed. N’Rae walked in circles around the camp.
Bardon kept an eye on the wandering boys and N’Rae. The lads stayed close, crossing and recrossing the same bit of land, discovering rocks, bushes, and animals that deserved inspection. N’Rae’s trail rounded the camp in ever-widening circles.
“Here’s where we are.” Bromptotterpindosset jabbed a stubby finger at the parchment unrolled on the ground and weighted by rocks. “And here,” he said, pointing to a page in the diary, “is the map that Cadden Glas sketched.”
“What does the writing say?” The squire crouched beside the sitting mapmaker to look at his book.
The tumanhofer pinched his upper lip between a finger and his thumb. “Hmm. Cadden Glas’s handwriting is sloppy, and when he got excited about something, it became a scrawl.”
“It all looks like random scratches to me.”
Bromptotterpindosset ignored him. “Luckily here, Glas is not disconcerted. He does butcher the meech verb forms, however. This says, ‘We traveled overland for ten days and reached our first view of the mountains.’ Actually, it says present tense travel and future tense will reach.”
“Does it say anything useful?”
The tumanhofer gave him a scathing look. “It lists the flora and fauna. I shall have to snag those two boys and compare his notes to what they have found.” He turned the page. “There are also sketches of the specimens he noted.”
A piercing scream lifted the hairs on the back of Bardon’s neck. He sprang to his feet and ran to the crest of a hill where he’d last seen N’Rae. The other riders and Holt scrabbled up the rise behind him.
A cluster of grawligs ran through a gully, splashing in the small stream that cut through the earth. Bardon paused only a moment to see N’Rae draped over the shoulder of one of the ill-clad ogres. The squire raced down the hill.
With powerful legs, the grawligs covered ground quickly. The knot of raiders disappeared around a corner of the deepening ravine.
Greer, cut these beasts off and herd them back toward us.
Mighty wings whipped the air above him, and the dragon’s huge shadow skated across the sloping bank. Keeping an eye on the rough terrain, Bardon charged toward the opening where N’Rae had been taken. He heard those following slip and slide as the crumbling soil broke away under their feet. He blessed his emerlindian agility.
A satisfied grin broke the serious expression on Bardon’s face as he heard a collective shout from the small ravine.
He stepped aside just as Greer warned him the horde had turned and was about to trample him.
The horrified beasts ran out of the opening to see a living wall—six warriors, armed and blocking their escape. They stopped short and started to turn.
Bardon jumped back onto their trail and yelled, “Eeeyah!”
Greer landed on the edge of the cutaway above them, peering over the cliff at the unfortunate, trapped ogres.
The grawligs