Michael Mathias - The Wizard and the Warlord

“Oh, Pin,” Queen Rosa said. “She is a delight.”

“You’ve never told me all the things you did for your queen while she was a hostage,” Telgra said with clear admiration showing on her elven face. “You really are a hero.”

“The best hero in all the lands,” Queen Rosa said with a kiss on his cheek.

When Phen finally was inside the room, he found he was hiding his face as if he were blushing.

“As your friend, Phen, I’ll say this,” the High King said after the door was closed and bolted. “It is good to see you back safely. Later, I want to hear your tale. Master Oarly has already told me some of it, but he couldn’t tell all due to some sort of oath he said you’d sworn.”

“Where is he?” Phen asked. A sharp look from General Escott reminded him with whom he was speaking. Phen just shrugged back at the man. Mikahl had said they were speaking as friends, not as a king and subject.

Mikahl laughed. “He’s at the pump house being sprayed down. While I was going through my morning routine, he came stumbling out of the hay barn. I almost killed him because he looked like some kind of wild creature.”

“Aye,” Phen chuckled. “What of Hyden’s letter?”

A few sets of eyes fell on Cresson then, but the mage’s expression stayed blank.

Lord Gregory harrumphed at the High King.

“We will get to that.” Mikahl’s tone had changed. “Now Phen, as your king, I will say this. You are an important and integral part of this kingdom. Disappearing without notice is inexcusable. A note to me saying that you were departing and couldn’t be specific would have saved us all, especially Queen Rosa, a whole lot of needless worry.”

Phen waited for more scolding, but it didn’t come. Instead, Mikahl pulled out a scroll and read Hyden’s letter to them. By the time he was done, Phen was head over heels with excitement. He couldn’t believe that Hyden Hawk was going to go with him to the Leif Repline fountain. He should have known, because Talon would need the restorative powers as much as he did. He wasn’t very thrilled about having a four-man military escort, but at least King Mikahl agreed that Telgra could go with him.

Just when Phen decided that things couldn’t get any better, he was told that the party would leave on the morrow. By the gods, he had a lot to do. Gathering the books Hyden wanted, and his own texts, would take hours. Mikahl made it clear that they would stay at the Skyler village for the roughest winter months. The High King explained that it was far too late in the year to try to go all the way to the fountain before spring.

After the meeting was concluded, Phen found Oarly by the barn, still fighting a persistent bee and picking leaves and twigs from his tangled hair.

“Give me the emerald,” Phen said.

“Emerald?” Oarly’s expression went completely blank.

Phen could tell that something was amiss. “The emerald we took from the Serpent’s Eye cavern. I gave it to you before that blasted thing tried to eat me. Remember?”

“I… uh… I sort of remember,” Oarly stammered. “I thought I gave it back to you once we was in the boat.”

“There was a storm raging down on us when we got back into the boat. I have no pockets, Oarly. I know you didn’t give it back after we washed up in the marshes.” Phen’s anger was plain.

Oarly realized what had happened then. He took two steps back, to get himself out of Phen’s range. “What do you need it for right now, lad? We’re about to go on another quest.”

“I’m going to have it mounted on a staff while we are gone,” Phen explained. “It should be ready for me when we get back. It is a rare and powerful magical gem, you know.”

“You will have to wait until we get back,” Oarly said, taking another step away.

“Until we get back?” Phen took a step toward the dwarf.

“I thought it was a rock poking in my leg back in that marsh where we washed up.”

Oarly bolted away as fast as his short legs could carry him. Looking back over his shoulder he called, “I pulled it out of my pocket and left it there.” By then, he was moving at a short-legged dead run toward the safety of the castle gate.

Phen was forced to spend a good part of the morning mapping and notating directions to where Oarly had left the emerald. He decided that the dwarf was impossible. Hopefully the magical jewel would still be there in the mud when he had the chance to go back after it. His mind was alive with other thoughts, though. The idea that they were going to cross all the way out of the Giant Mountains into unknown lands was wildly exciting. Hyden’s letter said that there was something there that would banish the hellspawn forever. That also meant this journey might take a very long time.

According to Phen’s best calculations, based on the various maps he'd studied, it would take them more than three months to cross the mountains. The jagged peaks and bitter cold were inhospitable at best. Not to mention the numerous legendary creatures that supposedly lived in the depths of the range-mammoth shagmars, unfriendly ice dragons, and the mystic and deadly dread wolves were just a few of the monsters they might encounter. Plus there were mountain trolls, orcs, and night stalkers. There were also razor-toothed snow worms, fog wraiths, and all the creatures he had studied under Master Amill and Master Sholt back in Xwarda. There were countless tales of adventurous groups of men, just like their own, that had gone off into the depths of the mountains never to return. These stories had been told over campfires for thousands of years. Even the giants, whose entire kingdom was within the range, didn’t go to some of the deeper places.

By the time Phen had finished making his maps, and collecting his and Hyden’s texts, he had a pile too big for him to carry. He had to find King Mikahl and see if they could take a wagon to Hyden’s village. With cold weather gear, rope, supplies and weapons, and the huge pile of books, they would need twenty pack horses if they couldn’t.

Oarly was coming out of the council chamber as Phen approached. The dwarf put up both hands, palms out in a show of supplication. “I’m sorry about the emerald, lad,” he said gruffly. “I truly am.”

“It’s all right, Oarly.” Phen gave a sincere smile. “It’s just a trinket, in the scheme of things. You’re my friend, and we can find it when we get back from this journey.”

Oarly stood there as if waiting for a “but” or a punchline, but none came.

Oarly felt horrible, even ashamed at his carelessness. “It just goes to show you, lad,” Oarly said with a grave nod, “we dwarves do stupid things when we are sober.”

“Aye,” Phen laughed. “You’ll need a dozen pack horses to carry enough drink to keep you drunk on this trip. We will be in the mountains all winter and then some.”

“I know it, lad,” Oarly grunted. “That’s why I was speaking to the High King. We will need a wagon cart or two to haul our stuff to the clan village.”

Phen smiled. Oarly was on his toes this morning. Either that, or the long run along the castle he’d made fleeing Phen earlier had cleared his head.

“What did he say?” Phen asked.

“Wagons can go all the way up into the foothills.” Oarly grinned. “We can get them as close as a day’s hike. I figured two wagons, and we can leave the escort to watch them while we make a few trips unloading.”

“Aye,” Phen agreed. “Better yet, let the escort do the unloading. I still have to get with Lord Gregory and find out where the village is.”

“You must not have heard.” Oarly was glad to be giving Phen some news that would cheer him. “The Lion Lord is going with us, at least to the Skyler village. Hyden’s folk brought him back from the dead, they say. He wants to thank them and give them gifts and such.”