DragonSpell (33 page)

Which way?

“You are inside my stronghold, o’rant girl. Each way leads to me.”

I stand under Wulder’s authority.

The two dragons sat before her, peering down the small dingy tunnels.

“Do you know which way to go?”

Metta and Gymn looked at each other and exchanged a few words Kale couldn’t understand. But she understood their thoughts. Each would take a tunnel and explore. Kale was to rest.

Kale almost laughed when Metta’s motherly suggestion to eat something and take a little nap settled in her mind. But the idea of their leaving her, if only for a few minutes, struck her heart with terror.

What if Gymn runs into something scary and faints?

The little green dragon gave her a disgusted look.

Yes, I did notice you fought that last bunch of bisonbecks.
She answered his prodding question, even though, until that moment, she hadn’t realized what an accomplishment the skirmish had been for her dragon friend.
I’m proud of you.

Gymn nodded his satisfaction with her praise and zoomed into one of the tunnels. Metta disappeared into the other.

Eat? I guess I have to.

She took out a package from inside her cape and nibbled on tasty cheese sticks made by Lee Ark’s wife.

In a moment, Metta came back. The tunnel had ended in a pile of rubble. She sat in Kale’s lap and shared the cheese, turning her nose up at the bread. When they finished, the purple dragon curled up on Kale’s knee and hummed one of Dar’s “digestion” songs.

Kale squeezed her eyes shut against sudden tears.

“Most of my people are settled in their homes for the night. A hearth glowing with a warm fire. The smell of stew and fresh baked bread left over from dinner with their families. You don’t have to be alone.”

Kale sighed, weary from a long day filled with troubles.
I stand under Wulder’s authority.
She heard Risto’s mocking laugh and then welcomed the silence. Her chin dropped against her chest, and she dozed.

The dungeon! The dungeon! A hole. Leetu, Dar, Fenworth!

Kale awoke to Gymn’s frantic explanation of what he had found. Kale reached for the blue scarf and followed the excited dragon. After a long crawl, Kale stopped behind Metta and Gymn as they hovered next to a natural slit in the stone wall. She heard Wizard Fenworth’s scratchy voice.

“Uncomfortable things, quests. Not always predictable. A bit boring when nothing is going on. But then dungeons are always boring. Quests! What a bother. Lose things, find things. Meet the most unpleasant people. Present company excepted, of course.”

         
46
         

S
OME
T
HINGS
C
AN
B
E
M
OVED
, S
OME
C
AN’T

Kale peered through the little hole and almost whooped with joy.

Leetu sat with Librettowit, deep in a discussion. Lee Ark, Dar, and Brunstetter leaned against one wall, eyes shut, looking pale and unhealthy. Shimeran and Seezle were not in sight. Fenworth sat cross-legged in the center of their cell. One arm looked very treeish. But the other hand rubbed across his bald spot, keeping that side free of leaves and twigs. Without his hat, the old man looked very forlorn.

A wizard should not be without his hat. He looks so old.

As soon as the thought flitted across her mind, Gymn dove into the cape and came out, pulling the large pointed hat behind him. Kale grinned and nodded. She took the hat from him and stuffed it through the small hole. There she wiggled it back and forth, waiting for it to catch someone’s attention.

“See,” said Fenworth. “You lose things, you find things. Now there’s my hat, and it’s about time.”

Leetu jumped up and ran to snatch the hat out of Kale’s hand. The welcoming smile on her face transformed into a glare almost immediately.

“You’re supposed to be searching for the meech egg.”

“I’ve got it right here.”

“Then you’re supposed to be taking it out of the mountain.”

“I’ve been trying.” Kale glared right back at Leetu. “That’s not such an easy job. There are miles of tunnels down here, and most of them go in circles.”

“Here now, mustn’t quarrel.” Fenworth came up behind Leetu and reclaimed his hat. He smoothed the brim, straightened the pointy crown, and placed it on his head. “Ah, now that feels better.” He smiled broadly at Kale. “I assume you have your dragons with you.”

“Yes sir.”

“Let’s have Gymn, then, and if he doesn’t mind assisting me, we’ll patch up our comrades’ aches and woes. Metta could sing us some encouragement.”

Gymn wiggled through the opening and flew to the old wizard’s shoulder.

“I thought Gymn could only heal with me.” Kale frowned as both her dragons attached themselves to Fenworth.

Leetu put her fists on her hips and frowned. “Only you and any wizard in the service of Paladin.” Her frown deepened. “Actually, I think an evil wizard could also force Gymn to heal, but I also think it would hurt him.”

Kale started to tell Leetu that Risto had spoken to her, but she hesitated. Shame washed over her as though she had done something bad. Instead of confiding in her mentor, she turned back to the egg in its moonbeam cape sling and undid the knots so she could more easily get to the hollows.

She called Leetu back to the hole. “Here is your bow. Where are Shimeran and Seezle?”

Leetu took her weapon, running an experienced hand over the wood, checking for damage. “They are being kept someplace else. It would have been too easy for them to escape this cell.”

Kale looked across the small room and noted the wall of bars. The kimens could have walked right between them. She passed Dar’s flute and harmonica into Leetu’s waiting hand. Some of the instruments were too big to fit through.

“I have your books and Librettowit’s, but they won’t fit either.”

“Why did you bother?”

“I don’t know. I thought you’d want them.”

“I seem to remember telling you—”

“I know, Leetu, I just picked them up. I don’t know why.”

Kale pushed Dar’s small sword and scabbard through the hole. She had difficulty fitting the hilt of Brunstetter’s sword through, and the sheath would not fit through even with Leetu pulling and Kale pushing. When she had passed as much of her friends’ belongings as she could to Leetu, she peered into the small room to see what progress Fenworth and Gymn had made.

Dar sat up and gave her a wave and a wink. Lee Ark and Brunstetter carefully inspected their returned weapons. Librettowit had his reading glasses on and was reading a small volume of poetry.

Fenworth walked over to the opening where Leetu stood on one side and Kale on the other.

“Food would be helpful, dear girl. And water.”

“Food?”

Leetu sighed. “You picked up books but not food.”

“I have some left from my provisions.” Kale handed over all that she had.

“You see, they don’t even appreciate what you’ve brought them.”

“I stand under Wulder’s authority.”

Both Fenworth and Leetu’s heads turned sharply as she uttered the phrase with anger.

“Risto?” asked Fenworth with an eyebrow raised.

Kale nodded and then realized he probably couldn’t see more than her nose and mouth from where he stood. “Yes,” she admitted.

“He’s been badgering you?”

“Yes,” she whispered.

“How like him.” Fenworth shuffled off to the others, carrying parcels of food in his arms.

Leetu moved closer to the hole and leaned forward. “Kale, you haven’t been talking
with
Risto, have you?”

“No!” Kale shifted uncomfortably. “Not much.”

The frown disappeared from Leetu’s face and compassion registered in her eyes. “Are you all right?”

Kale took a big breath. “I think so.”

“He lies.”

“Yes.”

“It sounds like truth.”

“Yes.”

Leetu grinned and winked at Kale. “If you were an emerlindian, you’d be a shade darker.”

Kale’s eyes widened and her mouth dropped open. She snapped it shut before Leetu could say something about her not knowing anything or having a lot to learn.

Dar sprinted across the prison cell, waving his harmonica.

“Kale!” He reached a hand through the opening to touch the one she had resting there. “You are a sight for sore eyes, what little I can see of you. You have the meech egg?”

She nodded.

“She needs to take it out of here.” Leetu sounded practical and gruff again. “We have our weapons. We can escape. You go on before us. Don’t wait.”

Kale shook her head. “I’m getting nowhere. I need help.”

Lee Ark joined them. He no longer held one injured arm cradled against his chest. “I agree with the o’rant girl. Leetu, you assume too much. Her talents are strong, but she is untrained. Paladin chose her, which certifies her ability, but he also chose us to accompany her. We are stronger together.”

Dar looked into Kale’s eyes and gave her another wink. He turned to Lee Ark and nodded pointedly at the hole through which Kale stared. “It seems to me that we have a problem in this togetherness thing.”

Their marione commander gave a decisive nod and walked back to confer with Brunstetter. The little dragons flew back to the hole and squeezed through. Both were exhilarated over their success. They chattered to each other until Kale interrupted.

“I don’t think Brunstetter can move any of this rock.”

Metta and Gymn both cocked their heads and inspected the wall of granite as they sat on her shoulder. They muttered to each other, and Kale got the gist of their thoughts. People had the strangest notions of how to spend their time.

“They want to get out of the dungeon,” she explained. “Can you look further down this tunnel and see if there is a way out?”

They darted off without responding. Brunstetter looked the hole over. Fenworth examined it as well.

“Tut-tut. Some things can’t be moved easily. I could make Kale smaller if you want her in here with us,” he offered. “But it would be more to the point for us to go out there with her. Can’t say I like these accommodations. Food is inedible as well.”

“They haven’t brought us any food,” said Librettowit at his elbow.

The wizard jumped. “Don’t scare me like that, Wit. Why aren’t you at your books? Proves my point though. Can’t very well eat food that isn’t served. Therefore, it is inedible.” He turned and whispered to Dar in a voice loud enough for all to hear. “Sneaky, quiet fellows are librarians. One moment he has his nose in a book, the next he’s dragging a decent, respectable wizard off on a harrowing quest. No respect for my age and station in life. Librettowit’s useful, I have to admit. Still, he can’t cook. He’s my friend, though, and you have to make allowances for friends. None of them are perfect. Very few of them can cook.”

“Harrumph!” grunted Librettowit and tramped away. The wizard, shaking his head in befuddlement, watched the tumanhofer stomp across the cell.

Kale’s attention caught on the flutter of leathery wings. Metta and Gymn had returned.

“They’ve found Shimeran and Seezle,” Kale told Lee Ark. “I’m going to go see if I can get them out. Then we’ll come back for you.”

Lee Ark nodded.

“You might remember,”
interrupted Leetu in Kale’s mind,
“
who
is in command. It is more proper to ask Lee Ark if you can go, rather than tell him.”

Kale felt her face burn red. She looked quickly from Leetu’s disapproving face to Lee Ark’s amused one. She heard Dar chuckle and looked at him.

“I think,” said the doneel with a cocky grin, “our little o’rant slave girl is doing a good job of thinking for herself.”

Are you sure you don’t read my mind?

“Never. Go see if you can help our kimen friends.”

Kale followed Metta and Gymn, dragging the meech egg on the cape. The passageway came to an abrupt end, opening into a chamber. Kale crouched in the tunnel about halfway up one wall.

In the center of this stone room, a sphere floated. Smaller than the ones Kale had seen from a distance, hanging over the city of Vendela, this orb contained the two kimens. Kale caught her breath. Shimeran and Seezle sat back to back, legs crossed, knees pulled up to their chins, eyes closed, and their arms folded and resting on their knees. Their hair fell limply around their shoulders and flowed to their feet. As still as stone, they looked liked lifeless carvings.

Kale examined the empty room. She could drop to the floor some six feet below her, but how would she reach the floating sphere?

“Can you fly to them?” she asked her companions.

The emphatic
no
surprised Kale.

“Shimeran? Seezle?”

No response.

Shimeran! Seezle!

Still no response. She wouldn’t give up. Around the room many tunnels led out of the chamber. If she could find something to aid her in one of those tunnels…

She tied the blue scarf to the corners of the cape once more, slipped the makeshift sling onto her back and sat down on the rock edge, preparing to jump to the ground. Her legs and feet felt cold as if she had submerged them into Baltzentor’s Pond near River Away.

It must have something to do with whatever it is that floats the ball.

Both Metta and Gymn objected, chittering warnings about the room, but their thoughts came in an overlapping rush. Kale couldn’t sort them out, and she was in no mood to wait. She pushed off the shelf created by the end of the tunnel and plunged into air as thick as water.

She fell but did not land on the floor. The meech egg thumped against her back. Kale bobbed upward like a cork on a fishing line. It felt so much like being in the pond Kale instinctively kicked her legs and “swam” toward the orb. She put both hands on the surface of the sphere and felt the transparent material give under her palms. She pushed harder but did not break through. However, in response to her shove, the orb floated away from her.

I wonder if I could get this ball back to Fenworth. He could probably open it.

She looked back at the tunnel where Metta and Gymn sat anxiously waiting for her.

That direction only takes me back to a tiny slit in the wall.

She looked at the numerous other openings leading out of the small chamber. She made up her mind almost immediately.

That one looks the right size and the right direction.

Kale shivered against the cold air surrounding her.

Best get moving before I freeze.

She put her shoulder to the sphere and pushed, moving her legs in a strong swimmer’s kick. The meech egg dragged behind her, making her movements clumsy. Finally, she bumped into the wall above the tunnel she’d picked out. She pulled herself to the top of the kimens’ prison and sat on it to push it downward. After several tries she pushed it into the rock opening.