Fistandantilus Reborn - Douglas Niles [108]
“Let’s see ” Foryth Teel was not entirely convinced.
He flipped open his book, tracing his fingers across the symbols on the page. “I see the boiling lake, and there we have the twin conical summits.
But the glacier- there’s supposed to be a glacier.”
For the thousandth time, Danyal’s hand closed around the hilt of his knife, and he cast a sidelong glance toward Kelryn Dare wind. As always, it seemed the man had anticipated his interest. He winked, flashing the lad a smile as cold as the stare of a dead fish.
“I have to admit this looks like the place,” declared Emilo Haversack.
“Sure,” Kelryn chatted easily about the connection. “The two mountains are both pointed. And that one has a glacier on the south face, just like the map shows. Now, let’s move.”
“Then that means the lair should be a cave mouth about halfway up the right-hand peak,” Foryth concluded triumphantly and with as much confidence, Danyal thought sourly, as if he were describing where in the marketplace one might find a vendor of melons. Still, the historian refused to be hastened as he scrutinized the view.
Dan fought valiantly against the misery and hopelessness that threatened once again to drop him in his tracks. His only desire was to rescue Mirabeth, to get her away from Kelryn’s hands long enough to exact revenge upon the bandit lord.
And then… and then what?
He didn’t know. Of course, in the eight days since they had departed ruined Loreloch, Danyal had come to share some of the historian’s sense of their task’s importance. He recalled grimly the warning Foryth Teel had issued about the menace presented by the prospect of Kelryn Darewind’s success.
Indeed, Dan had spent some of the last long nights thinking about those prospects. If the cruel bandit gained the power to travel through time, he could use that might to create an awful regime, a place devoted to violence and the worship of the vile, corrupt sorcerer.
The journey had been difficult as the five of them had made their way through rugged mountainous country. Yet the days outdoors had hardened them all, and they had learned to take advantage of what shelter they could find. Usually they had camped without a fire, unwilling to draw attention to themselves, for they all feared the great serpent whose lair was the object of their quest.
Huddling together under their two blankets, they had weathered the first blustery chill of autumn, determined to bring their quest to a successful conclusion.
Three times they had been brought to a halt as the kender was violently afflicted by one of his spells. Each had seemed, at least to Danyal, a little more severe than those that had come before. The first time Kelryn Dare-wind had been ready to kill the unfortunate kender. It had been Mirabeth who had quashed that idea, making it clear that she would sacrifice herself before she would allow it. Kelryn had been unwilling to relinquish his hostage, and for the first time, Dan had seen that the bandit lord was, in fact, as frightened as the rest of them of being left alone.
For hours following that attack, Emilo had been unfocused, his eyes haunted by memories that he could not- or would not-recall. On the next occasions, Kelryn had reluctantly, and impatiently, waited for the kender to regain his senses and mobility.
Fortunately they had seen no sign of the dragon. If Flayze had returned to his lair after destroying Loreloch, then he had either remained there or flown into a different portion of his territory. Now they regarded the mountain, sure that the monster lived here and anxious to find the safest route of ascent.
Danyal wondered for a moment if, now that they had discovered the location, Kelryn might try to kill them. The lad resolved that wouldn’t happen without a fight. But apparently the bandit lord was still frightened of the prospects of going on alone.
“You will go first, along with the kender and the historian,