Katarina the Dragonslayer and the Foebreaker's Curse

Chapter 4 - Warpath

4

WARPATH

For two days now, Oren had kept his hood on, and he had made sure that Katarina did the same. He offered no explanation, and little conversation. On the third day, the road descended out of the hills of southern Melloren and into a broad, rocky plain of low grass and few trees.

"We have passed beyond the furthest human settlements of the Border Kingdoms," Oren said. “Men do not often travel this road, but they do watch it, and that never means anything but trouble if you catch their eye.” He leaned back, and looked at Katarina. The excitement of adventure had faded from her face. It had been replaced by the look of frustrated resignation which is often evoked by uneventful or tiresome travel.

"Where are we going, anyway?" And when are you going to start training me?

"Amaru." The elf frowned. "For now, at least. It was, many years ago, the inland outpost of the Borinken. The last time I passed that way, it had become a pleasant little town. We will resupply there before we move on to our real destination." He looked around as though he were about to tell a secret. "We make for Kilara's Keep."

Kilara's Keep! "That's where the Pelethites were once trained!"

"Indeed it was, little miss." Oren sighed. "Tell me, what do you know of it?"

Not much. "I know it was built by Kilara of Black Lake in the elder days, and that she created a Trial to test the hearts of those who would be Pelethites." She looked to Oren for a reply, but he remained silent.

Oren passed her a handful of dried figs. "There is much more to the Trial than a test of courage,” he said. “The entire catacombs beneath the Keep is a great magical construct." His eyes looked into the distance, and he sighed. "It is certain that she had some help in its design from the Menelek, those ancient masters of the magical arts who are thought by most of the world to have passed into legend. They are, of course, still at large in the world, but have for a long time kept to themselves. However, no one knows whether the power of the Keep remains intact, and I myself have not come near it in almost three hundred years."

Katarina ate the fruit and stared at the old elf. "Why are we going there?" Am I to face the Trial and become a Pelethite?

"You are asking better questions already." Oren smiled. "Our reason for going there is twofold. I felt it would be the best place to begin your training in earnest. However, if any notion of attempting the Trial has entered your thoughts you had best forget it, for now. The Trial, if it still exists, is deadly to even the most seasoned warriors." His eyes narrowed. "The other half of our purpose there is that there are rumors that the Keep has of late become the residence of a particularly troublesome dragon."

"Are we going to kill it?" Katarina was once again filled with excitement, and not a small degree of apprehension.

"It is my hope that we shall not have to." Oren directed the cart off the road and into a broad gully that led to the river. "The pools here should make for good fishing," he said brightly, and leaped from the cart.

* * *

The mule was making short work of the winter grass on the riverbank while Katarina stacked a few more rocks around the fire. The elf was picking his way through whatever he kept in his satchel. At length he said, "Here it is!"

Kat turned to see what the elf meant. In his hands he held what seemed to be a tangle of slender cords and sticks. "Come, child. Have you learned to catch fish?"

"Yes." Katarina raised her eyebrows. "But you don't have a fishing pole."

"Poles are the way of Men, and best suited for those with nothing better to do, or who fish for sport." He unfurled the bundle, and strode into the shallows. He secured the strange device among the rocks. "More important to the true warrior than strength or speed is wisdom, little miss. And the wise do not lightly spend their energy, even for the speckled trout of Melloren." He gestured toward his contraption, which, now in the water, resembled a cage of netting. "A pukawa is easy enough to make, and will save you a great deal of time and trouble."