The Kings Son

Chapter 48

Stonehammer's voice filled the air as Oliver groggily opened his eyes, "Look who's back among the living, boy, we'd almost given up on you." A cough wracked Oliver's body as he tried to sit up and look around, overcome by a wave of dizziness he fell back onto his bedroll, realizing how cold he was he pulled the heavy blankets tighter around himself.

Shivering he looked over at his giant friend, Rexseal floated quietly beside Stonehammer's head. "Where are we and why am I so cold?"

"Safe is where we are," said a voice that Oliver did not recognize.

Shifting so he could see, the prince caught a glimpse of an old man with white hair and a back humped by age, he knew he'd seen him before, but where he could not recall. "I know you, don't I?"

Nibbling on the end of his pipe the elder nodded. "You should conserve your strength so try not to talk, your body is still fighting off the effects of the Demons poison, and there will be time for you to ask questions later and for me to answer them."

Feeling exhausted Oliver nodded his head and slid deeper into his blankets; before he drifted off to sleep, he heard the elder's voice once more. "Rexseal, do what you can to keep him warm and remember it has to be gradually or his fever will return."

Releasing a sigh of relief that he had been holding for days Stonehammer beckoned to the old man before he crawled on his hands and knees out of the cave where he patiently waited, stretching to relieve the stiffness in his back and neck he grunted happily. "I'm glad he's finally back with us, for a moment there I thought he was going to die."

Pulling a tin cup from a pocket in his robe the old man took a breath before blowing into it, walking a short distance to a nearby stream he stooped down and filled it with water, after taking a long drink, he crouched and filled it again. "He's not out of the woods yet, but I would say that his chances of surviving have improved dramatically."

Rummaging through his things Stonehammer pulled out a piece of smoked jerky, pulling a couple strands of lint from it, he plopped it into his mouth and slowly started to chew it. "I'll have to go hunting before too long."

Filling a kettle for tea the old man listened to the songs of the birds as night drew closer. "You should wait until it's dark before doing so; if you happen to be spotted by any of the tribes in the surrounding countryside it would be bad for both you and them." Hearing mumbling he looked over at Stonehammer, his face turning angry. "We can ill afford to move right now with the boy still suffering as he does."

Conceding to his older companion's logic, Stonehammer resigned himself to wait and went about collecting firewood making sure to stay within sight of the camp. As he walked, bending over and picking up sticks and some decaying logs, he noticed a rune engraved in the bark of a tree. A few minutes later he found another, his curiosity got the best of him when he found one more carved into a large stone. Figuring the load of wood in his arms to be enough, he walked back to camp.

The smell of brewed tea filled his nostrils as he deposited the wood by the fire, taking a seat next to an old tree stump he looked around. The old man sat with his eyes closed, his breathing shallow. "It's a type of magic isn't it? The runes cut into the trees and carved in the stone?"

Reaching for the kettle and pouring two cups of tea the elder nodded, he waited until the tea in his cup cooled before he spoke. "An illusion, we see everything as it is, the sunlight, the sky, the clouds, and the trees, but to anything outside of the runes it looks like a pile of large rocks, so it serves its purpose and keeps them away."

"If someone decided to let's say, try and touch or climb this pile of imaginary rocks what would happen?" Stonehammer asked. Sniffing the cup the old man had handed him he grimaced and set it down.