Delver Magic II: Throne of Vengeance by Jeff Inlo (books for 5 year olds to read themselves .TXT) đź“–
- Author: Jeff Inlo
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“So they were not on a scouting mission, and they were obviously ready to travel deep into the forest. Unless they planned to meet more elves in the trees, they planned to go alone. No human could keep up with elves or a delver in Dark Spruce. Hmmmm…two elves and the only delver in Burbon making a trip into Dark Spruce. Interesting.”
The serp looked into the small fire that provided the only light in this cave. His snake-like eyes followed the smoke that drifted up through the air vent above it. The smoke would never be seen from the outside, for the serp used thick handfuls of shag hair to act as filters throughout the vent, a vent which twisted and turned and opened upon the backside of the hill. His thoughts danced with the flames. He spoke openly of them. The bitter cold of his dark soul was hidden by the warm soothing tone of his voice.
“So the delver has left, left with two elves. Why would he leave? He is the only delver in Burbon, and he knows we are here. It must be important for him, otherwise he would wait. And why would he leave with elves? Elves and humans remain apart. These are the first elves to come to Burbon since the release of the magic. What would the elves want with humans? Ah, but I forget myself. They did not leave with humans, they left with a delver. The very same delver that was at Sanctum. That is fact. There were elves at Sanctum. There must be a connection, an important connection if this delver would leave while a threat exists.”
“Will we attack tonight?” one of the goblins blurted out. It did not understand the serp’s questions, it only knew the importance of Ryson’s departure. “If the delver is gone, it is an opportunity.”
Sazar turned his curiosity on the goblin. He almost laughed. “What kind of opportunity?” he pressed with mischievous delight.
The goblin immediately wished it had remained silent. Goblins found it difficult to talk to serps, they stood like hypnotized birds before a king cobra. It stuttered as it tried to explain. “The delver will not be able to scout, there will be no warning.”
“He has already uncovered us. Don’t you think he has informed the human guard? Don’t you think the guard will be that much more careful while he is gone?”
The goblin uneasily looked at the ground.
Again, the serp laughed. “Do you really think we could just walk through the gates because the delver has left? The delver has already done his job, of that I’m sure. The humans have been warned. To attack now would be nothing less than stupidity.”
The goblin’s shoulder’s drooped as it shied from the serp’s words.
Sazar remained good-humored, though sharp-tongued. His tone heightened with giddiness as it swept an ever-widening hold upon the goblin’s will. “See what happens when you think for yourself? You would walk into an open pit in broad daylight if it wasn’t for my guidance. The time to attack is not when the delver is away, but when the delver first returns. That may be an opportune time. The humans will drop their own guard, thinking the delver’s return would add to their safety. That is a time of vulnerability. However, that is certainly not our main concern at this time. We must first understand what is actually happening.”
Sazar turned away from the goblins and again looked into the fire. “If those are elves from Sanctum, why would they come back for the delver? Ingar was defeated, the sphere destroyed. According to what I know, representatives from each of the five races entered Sanctum, so it may not end with the delver and the elves. Dwarves were at Sanctum, algors were there, even a cliff behemoth. Why would they want or need to meet again? Maybe an alliance, but then why would they not bring a human with them?”
The serp shook his head. His long tail drifted gently across the river rogues skin. Again, he asked the most perplexing question aloud. “What could be so important to make the only delver of Burbon leave so quickly after uncovering us? That is what I need to know. That is very important information.”
He first eyed the shag with the thought of having it follow the threesome. He quickly reconsidered. Even a shag would not keep pace with a delver and two elves through the forest, and they already had a head start. He turned his attention to the goblins.
“Return to your posts for now. Watch the forest as well as the walls of Burbon. I wish to be alerted if and when the delver returns. I will send you relief before the sun sets.”
The goblins gladly turned and near galloped free from the tunnel, leaving the serp alone with the shag. Sazar folded his hands against his scaly chest. His sharp claws tapped a rhythmic beat against his own thick hide.
The shag fell into a daze, mesmerized by the gentle clicking which echoed through its lair.
“There’s something going on up there,” Ryson stated with an edge of concern to his voice.
They had traveled far into the Lacobian. The sun was already climbing high in the sky. The desert heat returned quickly, just as the sight of the sandstone mountain came into their view. Though it stood a distance away, shimmering above the desert sand, they would reach the algor meeting place before noon time.
Just past dawn, Ryson had wondered, even voiced the possibility to his companions, if they might find any algors within the monument. He had not found a trace of a single algor through their entire journey. He had believed he would find many trails once they closed upon the sandstone ridge with its many cave entrances. Yet, first to his disappointment, then to his dismay, he found nothing but the wind blown sand. The possibility that the edifice was now abandoned grew stronger with every step, grew until he tasted the blowing grit of sand in the air.
Holli tensed with preparedness for any calamity as she demanded a more detailed explanation.
“What is it you sense?”
“There’s a lot of sand in the air, more than there should be given the amount of wind.”
“What could be the source?”
“I’m not sure, but I can tell you what it’s not. It’s not just a few algors stepping off into the desert. There’s just too much sand in the air.” Ryson ceased speaking as he stopped all forward movement. His eyes narrowed, focusing upon a point distant on the horizon. His arm jutted forward, his finger pointed out like a dagger. “Over there. Just to the right of the cliff face. Between those two dunes. There’s a cloud of sand spreading in the air.”
Holli and Lief peered into the distance. They found the spot defined by the delver, but saw nothing. The sand was too fine in the shimmering heat for them to discern it from the surrounding dunes.
The delver, however, was quite sure of what he saw. “The disturbance isn’t recent, but it was definitely caused this morning.”
“It is beyond my sight,” Holli admitted without shame. Elf eyes were sharp but could not compare to those of a purebred delver. “What do you make of it?”
“A slowly spreading cloud of settling sand. There’s not much of it left in the air, only a trace really.” He bent down and grabbed a handful of sand from the desert at his feet. He threw it into the air and watched carefully. The majority of the abrasive substance fell to the ground. Smaller grains were gently swept away by the hot breeze. The dust, however, floated lazily in the air. At the beginning, it was well concentrated, a tightly defined cloud of minute sand particles. It spread slowly, altered by wind and gravity, but it remained in the air and visible even after several moments.
“That was just a handful,” Ryson stated as his eyes shot back and forth from the cloud in front of him to the one in the distance. “Whatever caused the one by the cliff, it had to be big.”
Holli wanted greater detail. “Big like what?”
“Maybe like fifty galloping horses, maybe a hundred,” Ryson stated flatly.
“A galloping horse would not last very long in this heat,” Holli noted.
“That’s true, but for the algors to have caused this, there would have to have been a lot of them, and dancing around or something.”
“What about a battle?”
Ryson remembered their own encounter with the dwarves. “You think maybe the dwarves have already attacked?”
Holli nodded. “It is a possibility.”
“It would have had to have been a large skirmish.”
Lief looked to Holli. “Jon knew about their meeting place. If he revealed that to Yave when he explained the circumstance surrounding Tun’s death, she would know about it as well. That would definitely be her first target. She would probably send a great force of dwarves to attack.”
Ryson gulped back a growing sense of dread that manifested itself as a lump in his throat. He struggled to remain optimistic. “Now, hold on. Why would such a battle between the dwarves and the algors take place so far from the monument? Don’t you think the algors would have stayed in the mountain, protected their home? It doesn’t make sense that they would go off into the open sand to fight the dwarves.”
“The algors are better suited to fight in the open upon the sand,” Holli reminded the delver. “They fight with slings. They are used to the shifting sand, where the dwarves are not. If I had an army of algors, I would certainly prefer to fight in the open than in the caves of their sandstone mountain. Especially if they were attacked by dwarves. The dwarves would hold a great advantage in the caves, fighting in an element they would consider home.”
Ryson still would not accept the theory. “But how would the algors have known that the dwarves meant to attack? How would they have had a chance to get to the clearing? We haven’t warned them yet.”
“Word spreads quickly from algor to algor,” Holli allowed.
Ryson again thought of their own encounter with the dwarves. The war party jumped through the sand. Perhaps the dwarves did not know of the meeting place, perhaps they attacked a few stragglers just outside of the cliff face and the algors dashed out to meet the antagonists. It held merit, but he would not know for sure until he could better inspect the actual area of disturbance.
“We won’t know what happened until I get a closer look at that area of sand,” he stated. “I want to get over there as quickly as possible, but I don’t want to fall upon an ambush or alarm any algors that may be around. How do we handle this?”
Holli looked directly at the sandstone edifice. “We go to the mountain first. We call to the algors and give our warning. That is why we’re here. I hope that we will find an algor, or several algors, that might help with an explanation. We will tend to the disturbance after we carry out our primary mission.”
Lief and Ryson did not argue. The delver began a quick trot in the direction of the edifice, and the two elves followed briskly. As he glided over the sandy dunes, Ryson kept a careful eye upon the ground in front of him. He watched diligently for any signs of a dwarf ambush. He also took quick glimpses of the slowly dispersing sand cloud to his right. There was no sign of any further movement. If a battle had been
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