Chapter 21

Vall and I made it three steps inside the door, when Della rushed over and enveloped me in a huge hug. Vall frowned, and then squawked as the woman did the same to her. “I’d heard that the two of you had gone off with that strange friend of Lirimaer’s.”

“We had, but we are back only for a short time,” I told her. “We are looking for Lirimaer.”

“She went out with her hunters two days ago, but she should be back by nightfall.” She pointed at a nearby table. “Sit, and I will bring you food and drink.” We did as she bid us, and she walked away across the room to the kitchen door.

“Well, that was very friendly,” Vall sniffed.

“You’re not jealous, are you?” I smiled at her.

“Yes, I am. Between Nilyn, who, thankfully, is wearing real clothes these days, and her, I probably should be jealous.”

“Probably,” I chuckled, and then I jumped as she dug her elbow into my ribs. “Ow!”

“Keep laughing, elf.” She glared at me, but a smile lurked at the corners of her mouth.

“You do realize,” I ran my finger across the back of her hand, “that I know every ticklish spot on your entire body?”

“You’d better not!” She hissed at me as her face heated. “I have teeth, and I’m not afraid to use them!”

I smiled and leaned over to kiss her cheek. “I will wear your scars with pride.”

She sighed and shook her head. “Remind me again why I mated with you.”

I took her hand and looked into her eyes. “Because I love you, Vall.”

She looked down at our joined hands. “I know. I love you, too.”

I saw Della returning with a pair of mugs in one hand, a serving platter in the other, and two bowls balanced impossibly on one arm. She set the table before us, and stepped back with a smile. “I’ll bring you some bread as soon as it’s ready.” She turned and walked away.

“This smells so good,” Vall breathed. “Nothing against Scheherazade’s cooking, but this is better.”

“She’s probably monitoring our communications link, you know.” I grinned at her.

“Ornthalas, behave!”

“Maybe we can bring some back for her to examine.”

“And maybe we can keep our minds on what we are here to do,” Vall said heatedly. That smile at the corners of her mouth gave her away again.

“I always have something in mind to do.” I snagged a slice of meat and a potato from the platter with my knife.

Vall’s smile showed more. “I think we will have to look beyond your cabin for those we seek.”

“Our.”

“What?”

“Our cabin. What I have is yours, too.”

She stopped and stared at me for a moment, her smile in abeyance. “You really mean that.”

“I do,” I said around a mouthful of roast meat.

“Fine, then. We will go to our cabin after we eat.”

“Really?” She glowered at me, and I held up my hands in supplication. “Okay, that is a fine idea, and we will do that.”

It was nightfall when Vall and I emerged from –our- cabin. Somewhere in our afternoon activities, we’d slept and communicated with Pel at our new home. We told her that we would report to her before bedtime. The idea of speaking with someone at such a distance amazed me, but Vall seemed to take it all in stride.

Lirimaer’s cabin was close by, and we walked there together along the road. I took my bow with me, and I also tucked the pistol into my belt, covering it with my shirt. As we walked up to it, I noted that there was a wisp of smoke from the chimney, and a light showing through the small window at the cabin’s front. I stepped up onto the porch and knocked on the wooden door.

The door opened, and Lirimaer smiled at us. “Ornthalas, Vall! You made it back. Please, come in.” She wore a simple green shift of a light elven fabric, and the hem swirled around her knees as she stepped back for us to enter. She hugged Vall, and clasped hands with me, and then gestured to her table. “Sit, and tell me what has passed since we spoke at the inn. I will make ready the meal as we talk.”

Vall started the narrative. “We traveled to Dreev’s home, where he told us of a book he’d taken from a dragon. He gave us a device, a talisman that we used to track the book. Along the way, we met two new friends, halflings, who had the book.”

She continued. “We had to fight off a dragon, helped by some crystals Dreev gave to Ornthalas. They made his arrows more dangerous for the dragon, and it flew away. The halflings led us to their grandfather’s home, where we were able to read some of the book.”

“It told of a place far to the north that held something of great value,” I broke in. “We prepared ourselves, and traveled north through the orcish lands to find it.”

Vall nodded. “I showed myself as an orcish shaman, and we almost made it through. We were taken by a warlord, who, thankfully, was Nilyn’s friend, and she let us go through her land. We were able to find the depot – uh, the place we sought, and the talisman helped us get in.” She stopped to look at me with concern.

“Depot? That’s a word I’ve never heard,” Lirimaer said, looking at us more carefully. “And, when did you become mates?”

“Uh...” I stammered.

“After we left Dreev,” Vall said. “He chased me down like wolves on a deer.”

“Yes, well,” Lirimaer grinned as I blushed, “it appears that the deer didn’t run far.” Her smile faded. “So, this depot. What was, or is, it?”

“That,” Vall sighed, “will take a while to explain.”

“Let me serve the meal, then. The food is on the stove.”

We set the table and served ourselves. While we ate, Vall and I told Lirimaer about the depot, and of our need for more people to man the equipment we’d found. We also told her what we knew about the dying magic, and its implications for those who needed magic to live.

“So, you flew here? All the way from the northern lands, in some sort of machine, as you call it?”

“Yes,” I replied. “We could be back there before midnight if we wished, and it’s called a transport, because that is what it does.”

“It also makes him vomit,” Vall said with a giggle. Lirimaer looked at me curiously.

“It moves in the wind, and the motion made me sick,” I admitted.

“Like a boat,” Lirimaer said with a nod. “I’ve heard stories of people who become sick on boats. You mentioned someone named Scheherazade. Is she the leader of this depot?”

“No,” I replied. “She IS the depot, or, more accurately, she controls it. She herself is a machine, but she is in some way alive.”

“You’ve come here to ask my help. How can I help you when I know so little?”

“Scheherazade has the means to rapidly give information to someone. It gives me headaches when she does that, and we still have to study,” Vall explained. “Look at us; she taught us to fly – fly, Lirimaer – in about a week.”

“I don’t know,” the ranger said as she leaned back in her chair. “I know you, and I believe you, but what about the others? Draen, especially, is suspicious of anything beyond his own skills.”

“I have an idea about that,” I said. “Can you bring him and maybe two or three of your hunters to our cabin in the morning?”

Lirimaer’s lips quirked at the word “our”, but she only nodded. “Of course. Will you ask us to leave immediately?”

“We can carry twenty besides ourselves,” Vall said. “I’d like to have that many, if they will go.”

Lirimaer considered that for a moment, taking a drink from her ale tankard. “We cannot take more than that now. The others all have families, and they are needed here.”

Vall glanced at me. “We can take families, too. There is plenty of room.” I nodded in agreement.

“I’ll consider that, too.”

We finished our meal and bade Lirimaer a good night.

The following morning, Lirimaer, Draen, and a half dozen other hunters stood at our door. Vall stepped out first and halted at the sight of the hunters. I gently moved her forward to step slightly past her in an instinctive urge to screen her from Draen and his hunters.