Blade of Erogrund

Chapter Five- Song in the Night

Godric gawked in a mixture of disbelief and surprise. Mira just stared, her eyes wide, but otherwise indistinguishable.

The man raised an eyebrow, clearly not expecting this reaction. "Do you have a problem? Should you need help with breathing, Narn is, as you already know, quite excellent at chest compressions."

The boy looked around, first to the dwarf, then the wolf, to Mira, and finally to the man who glared disdainfully. "You're jesting. Surely you aren't serious; it has been hundreds of years since a dragon was even seen in Niron, let alone this far from the North Peaks."

The man pointed a scarred hand at Godric sternly, though with a look that was not altogether unkind. "Look, boy. I don't have time to waste explaining all that is to you. For now just trust us, or don't, I really don't care, but you are coming with us one way or another. I have told you all that I intend to and you will have to be satisfied with it."

Narn stalked to Godric's leg and nudged him with a low growl.

The young companions resentfully complied.

The short walk to the edge of the decimated village was made in heavy silence that seemed to muffle even the clanking of Thain's bulky armor as though the air surrounding them could sense the tension and refused to echo the noise that attempted to travel through it lest the intense situation erupt into conflict.

Fortunately for all, it did not and the small party made it beyond the shattered walls of Dunn and into the surrounding forest with no difficulties.

After only a short time they came to a small area where the trees thinned into narrow saplings, as though a clearing had once been there but had long since been seeded by the trees around it. The man raised a hand to stop them.

He glanced back to Thain. "This is the place, right?"

The stocky dwarf shrugged his hunched shoulders. "How should I know? The woman would hardly tell me."

Rolling his eyes, the man turned to face Thain. "If this isn't the place we might end up losing her and it will be days before we meet up again. Can't you remember anything about what she said?"

Cocking his head, Thain stroked his beard thoughtfully. "Well..... It was a clearing of some sort. And she said it had saplings about, eh....ten years old?"

The man buried his face in his hands in exasperation. "And how are we suppose to know how old trees are?!"

Thain rested his hammer on his shoulder. "Stone and steel..."

Mira raised a small hand. The man gestured to her. "What is it?"

"These trees," She said, wrapping her hand around one of the trunks, "are more than ten years old. I would say closer to fifteen."

The dwarf snapped his fingers. "Hey, that could be it. Fifteen sounds right."

The man still looked skeptical. "Is that right? How do you know?"

Mira shrugged slightly. "Because I've grown up in these woods. We both have," She said gesturing to Godric. Not that I would be able to know the age of a tree because of it, he thought to himself but nodded anyway.

"Perhaps we should cut one down and check its growth rings just to be certain," Thain suggested.

A feminine voice from not far off interrupted them. It was sweet and light like a beam of sunlight, but filled with annoyance that shone through its soft tone. "Ecthion, it's just a grove of trees."

A slender woman stepped out from behind a clump of bushes and dexterously tip-toed through the fallen branches that filled the woods to silently stand near them. Her hair was chestnut brown and long, coming to what Godric would have guessed to be her lower back, but was done in some complex braid down her neck that gave him a headache just trying to figure out. Her eyes appeared black and piercing at first, but were revealed to truly be blue when the sun reflected off of them. She had a pleasant face with gentle features and a high forehead that was mostly covered by a dark brown strip of clothed tied around her head and ears. Her arms were slim, like the rest of her body, ending in delicate-looking hands. The first carried a gorgeous bow engraved with what looked to be a forest and the second holding a well-fashioned arrow complete with iron head and fletched with green feathers. She wore simple leggings that went from her waist to her boots, which appeared to have been made of high-quality leather. A molted cloak covered her shoulders and flowed off her back that appeared to also sport a large hood that was not in use.