Dragonspell - Donita K. Paul [31]
A dozen feet ahead, a man stood in her way. She saw his feet first. The brown boots sagged around his ankles. Green-gray robes hung like wrinkled bark from narrow shoulders. His head disappeared into the cygnot branches of the level above. A long moss-colored beard and wisps of scraggly gray hair tumbled over his chest.
Kale blinked. The man was still there.
She retreated one step and lost her footing. She fell backward toward the thinner branches. They gave way but snagged her clothing so she hung suspended.
Kale struggled to hold on to the swaying structure and managed to hook an arm over a branch. Sunk beneath the level of most of the leaves, her vision was obscured, but she could hear.
“Oh dear, oh dear, tut-tut, oh dear.” The muttering came from the man she’d seen.
“Help me!” she demanded.
“Oh dear.”
Kale managed to get her hand through the foliage and grab a branch to hoist herself higher. She looked in the direction where she’d seen the old man and saw only a tree trunk with a massive cascade of moss where she thought she’d seen a beard.
Dar and Leetu were running back through the cygnots.
In moments they lifted her, Dar pulling her up while Leetu unsnagged her clothing.
“Did you see him?” Kale gasped.
“Who?” asked Dar.
“The old man.”
Dar and Leetu looked around.
“Where?” asked Dar.
“He was there.” Kale pointed to the tree trunk.
Leetu shook her head. “Just a trick of the light. No one’s around.”
“He spoke!” Kale insisted.
“What did he say?” asked Dar.
“Well, he said, ‘Oh dear.’”
“Is that all?”
Kale felt her face grow warm in a blush. “He said, ‘Tut-tut.’”
Leetu reached down and helped Kale to her feet. “Sounds like bird noises to me.”
“It wasn’t a bird. It was a man. An old man. A tall old man.”
“Where did he go, then?” asked Leetu, once more scanning the area.
Kale looked around hopelessly. Where did he go?
A bird fluttered through the canopy and landed close to the trunk Kale had believed was a man. It preened a moment, running its bright yellow bill over ebony wing feathers.
“Tut-tut,” it twittered.
Kale stamped her foot on the thick branch beneath her, and the leaves shook in protest all around.
“Oh dear, tut-tut.” The bird bobbed its head and looked askance at the people invading its territory. “Tut-tut-tut-tut-tut-tut…”
“Oh, go away, you stupid bird.” Kale balled up her fists and then folded her arms in front of her. I will not cry.
Dar took a step toward the bird and gave it a speculative look. “Maybe it’s Fenworth,” he said.
“The bird?” asked Kale.
“No, not the bird,” said Leetu, and she began examining the area more closely. “But Wizard Fenworth has a reputation…”
The bird flew away as she walked up to the tree trunk and placed her palm on the bark. Dar took Kale’s hand and pulled her to stand beside Leetu.
“Fenworth?” Leetu’s voice sounded soft and persuasive.
“Wizard Fenworth,” said Dar. “We really do need to speak to you.”
Kale felt she must add to their pleas, but couldn’t think of a thing to say. “Sir?” she croaked.
From a distant branch the bird watched. “Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear, oh dear, oh dear, oh dear, oh dear, tut-tut-tut.”
“I think we’re talking to a tree,” said Dar and turned away.
Leetu sighed. “He’s the master of The Bogs. We won’t find him unless he wants to be found.” She went to pick up the pack she’d dropped when she ran to rescue Kale.
“So what are we going to do?” asked Kale.
“Keep walking,” answered Dar.
“Where to? For how long?”
“It doesn’t matter where. And how long? Until Wizard Fenworth decides we can find him.”
“Aren’t there any other choices?”
“No,” said Leetu and Dar in unison.
13
DANGEROUS SHADOWS
Dusk in The Bogs brought out a multitude of insects. They chirped, chittered, and clicked in the vegetation. They buzzed and whined around the travelers’ ears. Some of them stung and bit. Kale hated it when they crept across her skin.
Dar, Leetu, and Kale stopped for the night, setting up camp in the thick branches near the trunk of a cygnot tree. The foliage thickly intertwined to make