Dragonspell - Donita K. Paul [27]
Kale watched the emerlindian turn the pages of her book while she ate.
I wonder if I can listen to Leetu’s mind while she reads.
Kale chewed her own sandwich slowly as she reached with her mind to Leetu. For an instant, printed words flashed in her mind. The page from Leetu’s book blurred, and Kale saw Leetu’s thoughts, images of mighty urohm soldiers mounted on gigantic horses moving in formation across a plain. In the distance, a dozen dragons flew in a line with one shimmering silver beast in the lead. Their destination was a bleak mountain range of obsidian black and ash gray. Storms shrouded the crater tops. The roiling clouds sent jagged bolts of green and purple lightning across the sky in all directions, accompanied by a menacing rumble of thunder.
Kale knew this was the ancient legend of the Battle of Ordray. She had heard the tale once in the tavern and had no idea what the army looked like. Nor could she imagine the landscape of the great conflict on her own.
Leetu’s imagination, fed by her knowledge of the race of urohms, formed the pictures Kale viewed. Leetu had also seen the Valley of Collumna. The beauty of the flowered meadows ended abruptly at the foot of the dark ridge of mountains. Kale closed her eyes and took in all the details Leetu summoned up as she read her book.
The leader of the urohm forces, Corne, sat with the diminutive kimen, Ezthra, before him on the neck of his war-horse. A few days before, Ezthra had arrived with an urgent plea.
Kale relished the story as she partook of Leetu’s imagination. This was one of the most exciting accounts of Wulder’s directly intervening on behalf of His people. The kimens’ request and the urohms’ response had earned Wulder’s pleasure, and His reward was astonishing. Kale leaned forward and forgot to eat as Leetu continued to read.
When Ezthra first arrived, frazzled by fear and exhausted by a long, treacherous journey, he told Corne and the other urohm leaders his tale. The kimens, the smallest of the seven high races, had suffered through three dry years. A bisonbeck slave of Pretender had sought out the kimen high council and delivered an ultimatum. Pretender, through his messenger, revealed he had control of their weather, and unless they pledged allegiance to him, he would rain fire from the sky to finish the destruction of their forests and grasslands.
The kimens doubted Pretender’s claim. Wulder commanded wind and rain and sun. They sent back a defiant reply.
Two kimens discreetly followed the bisonbeck to spy and bring back news.
One returned.
He reported to Ezthra and the other elders. The spy had no news concerning Pretender’s claim to have gained control over the elements of weather. But he had seen armies of bisonbecks ready to descend upon the kimens. He’d crept into the field tent of a commander and listened to their plans to capture and enslave the kimens, destroy their homes, and stamp out their culture.
Bisonbecks, the most intelligent of the seven low races brought forth from Pretender’s evil mind, were a hideous enemy. Rock-hard of muscle, thick-skinned like a crocodile melon, known for strength and endurance, the bisonbecks added an unholy rage in battle to their formidable ability to wipe out anyone who opposed them. What chance did the gentle, peace-loving kimen people have against them?
Kale had seen a few kimens. They used to come into River Away. She always marveled at the tiny creatures and had to stop herself from staring. Kimens stood a little over two feet high in delicate bodies that were sometimes lifted by a strong breeze so they appeared to fly.
In Leetu’s book the storyteller explained that the kimens could hide, but that would be their only defense. In hiding, they would most likely prolong their existence. However, with bisonbecks occupying their lands, the kimens would be caught one by one. Those who remained free would bear untold hardships and slowly starve. If Pretender did rain fire upon them, the kimens would most certainly perish.
Pretender had in no way threatened the urohms. The storyteller made that