Of Disappearances and Dragons - Complete

Part 6

It had been getting gradually lighter up ahead and just as Finn was starting to think they were reaching the end of The Forest they came across something he had not expected and was not prepared for. A gaping ravine at least a hundred feet across with no obvious way to cross it. He cautiously approached the edge and looked down. They were so high up and the raging river at the base of the ravine so far away that from where he stood it was utterly silent.

"Well this wasn't on the map," he said flatly.

"Ahh," said Jarrold, lingering a few feet away from the edge. "Well you see this ravine was only discovered very recently so you'd have to have a very up to date map for it to be included."

"Only discovered... but how could... You know what never mind," said Finn, shaking his head. "Any ideas how to cross it?"

The guttural language of Tethinish rang out from the trees behind them and out stepped a tall, slender woman whose soft appearance did not match the harshness of her language. She was wearing a simple green dress which was covered in bits of leaves and twigs although she didn't seem to have been attacked by them as Finn had, rather they were almost part of the dress itself. Her black hair was loose and flowing down her back and she had bare feet.

Although Finn recognised the words as Tethinish he could no more speak it than he could Goblin Tongue and yet she was pointing and staring unflinchingly at him. It was rather unnerving. And then to make matters worse when Jarrold turned back to look at him his eyes widened in surprise.

"What?"

Jarrold shook himself and said, "Leave this to me."

To Finn's great surprise he then began speaking fluent Tethinish. The two began conversing and gradually the woman's expression changed until she was beaming down at Jarrold. She said one final word, they both laughed and then she turned and disappeared back into the trees.

"What the dragon was that all about?" asked Finn, his gaze jumping between Jarrold and the spot where the woman had just vanished.

Jarrold chuckled and nodded towards the ravine. Finn turned and his mouth fell open in surprise. There was a bridge across it.

"That was the guardian of the ravine and she is allowing us to cross." A look of concern appeared on Jarrold's face. "But we should probably hurry, I'm not sure how long the bridge will stay for. They can be quite absent-minded can the Tethins."

Finn crossed the bridge easily but when he got to the other side he saw that Jarrold was still only a quarter of the way across, crawling forward inch by inch. His eyes were screwed almost completely shut and Finn could see his mouth moving as he muttered encouragements to himself. Realising this could take a while Finn settled himself down at the base of a tree, hopefully a non-Living Tree, to wait.

His thoughts began to drift to Archie and Jarrold's comment about hoping it wasn't too late for him. Since Archie had disappeared Finn had considered it more of an annoyance than anything else but what if he really was in danger? What if something had already happened to him and Finn was too late? An uneasy feeling settled in his stomach. Archie may have been a pain in the neck but he was still his brother.

He pulled the map out and opened it. It took only seconds for the letters to do their familiar dance across the page and the worry dissipated somewhat. Surely it wouldn't still happen if- Finn broke that thought off immediately. There was no point thinking the worst without any proof.

At that moment Jarrold reached the end of the bridge and collapsed next to Finn, panting and trembling. After his own reaction on the boat ride over here Finn didn't think he had any cause to tease Jarrold about his fears so simply patted him on the back a few times and waited.

After a time Jarrold sat up, wiping a hand across his face.

"You may have noticed but I don't have much experience with heights."

Finn snorted. At that moment the bridge disappeared. Jarrold let out a squeak and covered his eyes, and even Finn shuddered.

"So," said Finn eventually. "The ravine has a guardian?"

"It does indeed," replied Jarrold. "Not quite sure why but it does. She normally demands payment of some sort to cross, whichever direction you're going in." He turned to Finn with wide eyes. "You didn't tell me you had a Dragonstone."

At Finn's confused expression Jarrold pointed at his chest. Looking down Finn saw that the pendant from Durdaw had worked its' way out from underneath his tunic.

"A Dragonstone," Jarrold said. "The only guaranteed weapon against dragons. You almost don't need me around with that round your neck. She wanted that as her payment but I persuaded her against it."

"You know what this is, how it works?"

Jarrold shook his head. "No idea how it works. Only ever seen them in books. Of course it's made of Heathstone but so are all sorts of dragon protectors that are about as effective as a wooden shield. It's an invaluable thing to have. As long as you can figure out how to use it."

Finn looked down at it, beginning to reassess its' worth, and then tucked it under his clothes again. He stood up, stretching his neck to either side.

"If you're ready we should carry on."

The trees on this side of the ravine showed no signs of stopping or thinning out at all.

"So how do you come to be fluent in Tethinish?" asked Finn, as they began walking again. "I thought you were a Raenor."

"Well I'm actually fifty percent Raenor, twenty five percent Tethin, twenty percent Imp but we don't speak of that, ten percent Molin and five percent Ashlan."

"That comes to one hundred and ten percent," Finn pointed out.

Jarrold beckoned him closer so Finn bent down towards him.

"There's been some very strange goings on in my family," he said seriously.