The Scrolls of Skava

Return to the Emerald Oracle - Part 2

     Suddenly he stiffened, though, staring at something behind them, and shaded his eyes with his hand to get a better view. “What is it?” asked the cleric, seeing the change in his formerly buoyant mood.

     “I thought I saw something behind us,” said the wizard, squinting as the brightness of the sky dazzled him. “Something following us.”

     Diana looked as well, pulling her long, chestnut coloured hair out of her eyes so she could see. Looking ahead was one thing, with her hair streaming out behind her like the tail of a comet, but now that she was looking back the way they’d came her hair was streaming out ahead of her, obscuring her vision. She gathered it all up, clicking her tongue in annoyance, and held it out of her way while she shaded her eyes with her other hand. “I can’t see anything,” she said after a moment. “Perhaps it was just one of those greenwing gulls or something.”

     “Yeah, probably,” agreed the wizard, although a little doubtfully. He continued searching the sky, but whatever it had been was gone now, or perhaps had dropped back a bit having realised they’d crept too close. I’m getting paranoid in my old age, the wizard told himself with a wry grin, and he put the matter out of his mind.

     “There it is!” shouted Shaun jubilantly, and they turned to see the island of the Emerald Oracle ahead of them, just becoming visible as they penetrated the Curtain of Invisibility. Shaun banked the carpet sharply, to avoid crashing into the half mile high sheer cliffs that surrounded the circular plateau, and Diana tumbled into Thomas, the two of them almost falling off as the wizard scrabbled desperately for purchase. He managed to grab hold of one of the carpet’s trailing tassels with one hand, and prayed that it wouldn’t pull off as he grabbed Diana’s arm with the other and pulled her against him. He got a faceful of fragrant chestnut hair as the cleric grabbed hold of him, her fingers biting painfully deep into his arms even through the fabric of his jacket, but then Shaun leveled the carpet again and they breathed a sigh of relief as they flew straight and true once more.

     “I wish you’d give us some warning before you do that!” shouted the wizard, his heart hammering in his chest at the narrowness of their escape.

     “Sorry,” replied Shaun. “We came through the curtain of invisibility and the cliffs were right there, in front of us. I had to swerve quick or crash. Are you two all right?”

     “I will be when my stomach settles down,” replied Diana queasily. Her hands were still tightly clamped on the wizard’s arms and she had to concentrate hard to make them let go. She looked over the side and gulped at how far down it was. “I thought we were flying higher than the top of the cliffs,” said Thomas as the carpet slowed to a stop and rose slowly upwards.

     “We were,” replied Shaun. “I brought us down a bit. I was worried that the Curtain of Invisibility might be like a dome, and that we might fly right over it without knowing.”

     That hadn’t occurred to the wizard, and he had to admit that the soldier was right. “Well, we’ve found the island and we’re still alive,” he said. “That’s what’s important.”

     They were already nearly at the top of the cliffs, and they reached the top just a minute or two later. The carpet continued to rise until it was about a hundred feet above the forest covered plateau, then turned and heading inland. “Hey!” protested Shaun. “I didn’t tell this carpet to do that! It’s moving all by itself!”

     Thomas and Diana weren’t worried, though. “Looks like the Oracle’s in a hurry to see us,” said the wizard. “Since we’ve been here before and proven ourselves by winning through all its defences, I suppose it’s decided it can cut out the formalities.”