Delver Magic II: Throne of Vengeance, Jeff Inlo [graded readers .TXT] 📗

her thirst for revenge, not over her delusions of what happened in Sanctum. They are not the same thing.”

“I can’t argue with you,” Ryson admitted. “I just wish there was a way to stop the whole thing.”

“For now, let us be content with warning the algors. That should be the first step in any case.”

Again, Ryson pieced together the information given to him along with Lief’s very presence within his house. “So you want me to help you find the algors?”

“You know the way. I would suggest we go to the sandstone edifice you described as their meeting place. The word can be spread there the fastest. I expect you still remember exactly how to get there.”

“Of course I do, but maybe I should go alone. I’ll move faster that way.”

Lief’s jaw tightened. “Are we going to have this argument again? Why do you insist on wasting our time with this? I owe as much to the algors as you. Why do you think you always have to go alone?”

“It’s what I do,” Ryson responded firmly. “Besides, the desert isn’t a kind place for elves. Ask Holli. She’ll tell you.”

“She has told me,” Lief responded indignantly. “And she will also accompany us.”

The thought of Holli Brances broke Ryson’s tension. He recalled his encounters with the elf guard. Above all, he imagined her stoic preparedness, her ability and willingness to deal with nearly any calamity. With Lief and Holli at his side before, they performed the impossible. They had removed the sphere from Sanctum and defeated Ingar. How much harder would it be to warn the algors and prevent a war? He thought he might share his own relief with his elf friend, and he considered a tactic which might remind them both of times when they overcame the truly insurmountable.

“I see. Well I know there’s no point in arguing it any further. I know how stubborn you both can be. You never took my advice, even when you knew I was right. I might as well save my breath.” Ryson paused. He hid a grin as he waited to see Lief’s reaction. It had been a long time since he had spoken with the elf, and he wondered if Lief still swayed with the same emotional outbursts.

Lief surprised the delver. The elf seemed ready to give him a tongue lashing, but instead he held himself. He grunted as he swallowed his annoyance. He looked to Linda. “If you are truly going to marry this delver, I assume you want him safe?”

“Sometimes I wonder,” Linda responded playfully. She remembered how Ryson spoke of Lief’s outbursts. She had known her fianc� well enough to see that he was only trying to goad the elf into one of these flare-ups. She decided to help their guest instead.

Lief nodded to the delver. “Then I suggest you order him to have two elves escort him.”

“So ordered,” Linda laughed.

Lief eyed Ryson with a smug expression of victory. “There, you are now truly outnumbered.”

Ryson surrendered. “I’m always outnumbered. You surprise me, Lief. You handled that almost diplomatically. What happened to your quick temper?”

“I have learned to control it, but only when I want to.”

Ryson smiled broadly. “You know, it really is good to see you. You remind me of the good that came out of the sphere.”

Lief bowed slightly. “Thank you. And you remind me that even the stubborn can be swayed.”

Ryson grinned. “How about Holli? Where is she now?”

“She’s waiting outside the wall.”

“Really? Why didn’t you bring her with you?”

“She would not feel comfortable enclosed within the walls. She would also find it difficult to hide her elf guard training. What do you think would happen if your human guards at the gate saw her constantly searching for hidden threats?”

“They’d get nervous.”

Lief nodded in agreement. “And they would probably keep us. No, it was better to leave her where she is. She is scouting the perimeter.”

Ryson brought a hand to his forehead. “Godson, I forgot about the serp. It was checking the walls with a group of goblins.”

“If you’re worried about Holli, there is no need…” Lief began.

Ryson raised a hand to interrupt the elf’s words. “I’m not worried about Holli. I was with her in the Lacobian desert. I know she can take care of herself. It’s here, Burbon, that’s the problem. You see, I’m the only delver here. After seeing that serp, I should be spending the next several days scouting for goblin movements.”

Lief shook his head as if to emphasize that this was not truly possible. “But we must leave now, and we can not leave without you. We may not be able to find the algors. Holli believes she might find the way, if absolutely necessary, but she’s not a delver scout. There is a distinct possibility we might get lost.”

“I can’t let you go alone,” Ryson exclaimed. “Getting the algors involved is as much my responsibility as anybody’s. And I wouldn’t want to live with the thought of you getting lost out there.”

“I wish I could give you some advice in this matter,” Lief stated sincerely. “but the truth is the algors must be warned, and I can not risk losing even a day in waiting. I really don’t know how quickly the dwarves plan to mobilize.”

“I know, I know.”

“Let Burbon’s guard handle the goblins,” Linda announced suddenly. It held the edge of an order.

Ryson looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

She did not back down from her statement.

“You can’t handle everything yourself. If you’re needed to warn the algors, then you have to go. You can’t keep trying to do everything at once.”

“I’m not trying to do everything at once,” Ryson protested. “This is just a bad time. If I hadn’t seen the serp, I probably wouldn’t worry about leaving.”

“Yes, you would. It’s only been a couple of seasons, but I already know you too well. You think the safety of this town is your sole responsibility. Don’t deny it.”

“It is my responsibility,” Ryson stated without hostility. He was not trying to argue the point, only stating a fact.

Linda remarked on truths of her own. “But not yours alone. There are others here that can protect Burbon. Sy, Enin, the guard. Sy can come up with scouts of his own. They won’t find everything you could, but they’ll let the goblins know we’re waiting for them. I’ve learned enough about them from what you’ve told me that they won’t attack.”

Ryson could not argue the point. He looked to Lief. “She’s probably right.”

“Then is it settled?” the elf asked. “You will lead us to the edifice in the desert and together we will warn the algors?”

“I guess so.”

“The sooner we leave the better,” Lief nudged anxiously.

“I can leave now. I just have to make one stop at command and let Sy know what’s going on.”

Ryson looked to Linda with a somber smile, trying to mask his sadness in saying goodbye. “I’ll be gone for at least five days, but you better count on seven or eight, maybe longer. I guess you’re getting used to this by now.”

“I’ll never get used to it, but I’m learning to accept it.” She grabbed him around the neck and embraced him tightly. “You take care of yourself.”

“I will,” he whispered and grudgingly moved away from her to the door. “I’ll tell Sy to keep an eye on the house and the tavern.”

Reluctantly, he turned from Linda and stepped out the door. He walked briskly down the path to the road, trying not to look back, trying to curb the growing emptiness which assaulted his being. His unease in leaving was a recently discovered sensation.

Before he committed himself to Linda, he found it so easy to simply up and leave, to go off into the wilderness without a care. Now, it was never easy. Now, an anchor existed. Leaving Linda caused him pain. A hole opened in his center, a hole which would not be filled as long as he was away from her.

Still, he remained a purebred delver, and the need to explore would always call to him. As he looked to the open skies to the southwest, he thought of the waiting desert and the algors. Surely, this would fill his craving for exploration. His steps carried him away from the front of his home, and he considered the contradiction of his predicament. Even as something called for him to stay, the gnawing desire to explore beckoned him to leave. Like a dog that pulled on the leash held by its beloved master, Ryson felt opposing forces exert themselves upon his soul. He wished to run free, but he did not want to leave that which he loved. In days to come, he would learn to appreciate this, see it as more of a blessing than a curse. Even now he began to understand the true triumph in his mixed feelings. Upon leaving this day, his delver soul would sing, but that part of himself which he gave to Linda would bring him back to Burbon. He finally had a true home.

He was silent in his thoughts for but a moment. He walked with the glide of his delver heritage, Lief at his side. He turned to his companion with the curiosity that was his nature. He wished to consider something else, something other than his leaving. He unleashed a general question in order to discover news from a friend he had not seen in over a season.

“So what’s been happening with you? I’ve scouted some portions of Dark Spruce, the sections closest to here. I’ve met up with some elf guards. They seem to know who I am, but they don’t like to talk about their camps. Security, I guess.”

“Changes, good or bad, abound everywhere,” Lief responded mysteriously. “My camp is no exception. The elves are learning to live with these changes. We face new threats, mostly in the way of river rogues and goblins.”

“How are you getting on without Mappel?” Ryson did not want to stir any sadness with the memory of the loss, but he imagined the death of a camp’s elder had to cause significant shifts.

Lief remained tight-lipped. “Mappel will always be remembered proudly. We learn to live with each loss.”

He was less than convincing. There was something behind his words which perked the delver’s curiosity. It was not sadness over Mappel’s death, but something else, and Ryson pressed for the information.

“Does that mean the camp is more or less reacting normally to all this? I mean, whatever you might consider normal with the return of the magic and now this crisis with the dwarves?”

Lief side-stepped the issue by pointing out his own observations since entering Burbon. “With the events of Sanctum, we all had to expect that life in this land would never be the same. I look about this human town and see the proof for myself. The wall that surrounds this dwelling area is of new construction, as are the towers.”

“That reminds me,” Ryson interrupted. “I have to tell Sy of the need for a new tower. We seem to have a blind spot the goblins will be more than willing to utilize for their own advantage.”

“That is exactly what I mean.” Lief played upon the issue. “We must now concern ourselves with matters previously unimportant. I doubt there was a need for towers before the sphere was destroyed. Humans never had to deal with goblin raids. It is almost impossible to remember what things were like before the sphere breached its tomb. But it is like this all over. Every inhabitant of the land must learn the new way.”

Lief stopped and bid Ryson to