Dragonspell - Donita K. Paul [102]
Dar was already unconscious. She repeated the procedure, following Fenworth’s instructions even though she wanted to stay and completely heal her friend.
Leetu had fallen among the ravenous blimmets. They had shredded most of her body, digging with sharp claws as if burrowing into their victim, and at the same time, biting and tearing away small mouthfuls of flesh. Curled in a ball, Leetu had protected her face and chest.
Kale cried as she and Gymn saved the emerlindian’s life and then rose to search for the kimens.
They found them huddled together. Their wounds were less severe since they had leapt into the trees as soon as the attack began, except for Glim. He had been the first one assaulted. Zayvion cradled Glim’s lifeless body in his arms.
38
MOVING ON
Wizard Fenworth, Librettowit, Kale, Gymn, and Metta worked until dawn. Dar and Lee Ark regained their strength first, enough to set the campfires blazing again. They had to go into the woods to gather dry wood. Fenworth’s deluge had saturated the immediate vicinity. The frigid air turned the water on the ground to ice. Everyone wore wet clothing, and the warmth of the fires felt good.
Leetu and Brunstetter had suffered many wounds, but responded to repeated healings administered by Kale and her minor dragons. Wizard Fenworth and the tumanhofer gave aid to the large dragons. Then they helped heal the two-legged members of their questing party.
As the sun came up, the fine lace network of lighted vines overhead abruptly stopped growing and faded away. The people of the countryside walked over the nearby rolling hills to congregate around the camp. They offered to help in any way they could.
If Kale hadn’t been so tired in body and in spirit, she would have been amused at the sidelong glances they aimed toward Fenworth. Each woman bobbed a curtsy. The men nodded. Kale didn’t doubt they had turned out to help those who were victims of the blimmet attack. It was something the people of River Away would have done as well. But a wizard walking among them certainly stirred up curiosity.
The farmers and townspeople thanked Wizard Fenworth for slaying the blimmets, then set about digging a huge hole in the ground. When they finished, the local people layered the blimmet bodies and wood doused with deckit powder in the crater. No one touched the beasts but used shovels and picks to move them.
This done, the kimens invited Metta to go with them into the stand of woods to bury Glim. Kale watched with sadness as the little people marched in a dignified procession away from the crowd. They carried Glim’s remains in a shroud of golden light. As tradition demanded, those who waited sat in a mourning circle.
The local women went back to their homes, leaving the children to ask questions.
“Why did Pretender make the awful blimmets?” asked a young boy sitting in his father’s lap.
As the oldest member in the circle, Wizard Fenworth nodded to Librettowit, indicating that the tumanhofer should answer the question. The broad little man stood and went to the center. He would answer the children’s questions until he came upon one he could not or did not wish to answer. Stroking his beard, he looked the crowd of men and children over, cleared his throat, and began.
“For each of the high races of Wulder’s creation, Pretender tried to make his own race. The blimmets are Pretender’s failure to make a race like our friends, the doneels.”
“Did Pretender send the blimmets to kill us?”
“No.” Librettowit paced around the center of the circle and then faced the young man who had asked. “Pretender has no control over this evil creation of his. That is one of his failures, and I’m sure it goads his ego. However, blimmets charge blindly from one act of destruction to another, and that surely delights Pretender’s wicked heart.”
“Where did these blimmets come from?”
“From the ground. They burrow rapidly through the earth. Sometimes their movement can be seen from above as the ground bulges and sinks in a line above their tunnel. After they have eaten,