The Scrolls of Skava

Return to the Emerald Oracle - Part 6

     "No," said Arroc, though. "You need to rest too. I'll go. I'm the one with the most energy left."

     Dennis thought about arguing with him, but his whole body was aching. A few minutes sitting down was very tempting. “Be careful,” he warned therefore. “Don’t get lost.”

     “I promise,” replied Arroc as he set off into the forest.

     The forest was thick and dense, and the others soon lost sight of him. Despite his desire to rest, Dennis paced up and down, keeping a wary eye out in case the wolves attacked again, and Naomi sat down on the soft, leafy ground, resting her back against the fallen tree while Teasel inspected and dressed the more minor wounds on the human girl’s arms and legs. The wolves had been vicious and merciless in their attack, and it was a miracle the black girl had survived, even in her cat form. “I wish Diana were here,” the nome said to herself. “One healing prayer and you’d be as good as new. We had a cleric in my last team, you know. Not a cleric of Caroli, but he could heal a bit. Most of my team wouldn’t be alive today if it hadn’t been for him.” She waited for Naomi to reply, but the black girl had fallen asleep.

     An hour went by, and they were just beginning to get worried for Arroc’s safety when he returned, the set of his body reflecting satisfaction. “I think I found it!” he declared as Naomi started awake, wincing at the pain of her wounds. “A lake, a few hundred yards over there, with an island in the middle of it. There’s a building of some kind on the island, like nothing you ever saw before. It has to be the sage’s home. There’s nothing else it could be.”

     “Well, let’s go then,” said Naomi, climbing painfully back to her feet. “The man’s waiting for us.”

     “Are you sure you’re okay to walk?” asked Dennis, noticing with concern how she favoured her right side, the side of her body on which she bore the worst wounds.

     “I’m fine,” the black girl replied, however. “Come on. The sooner we find him, the sooner we get back to the others.”

     “Assuming he’ll let us,” said Teasel.

     “Of course he will,” said Naomi confidently. “Just wait ‘till I work my charms on him. I’ll have him eating out of my hand.”

     “Maybe it’ll be a lady,” pointed out Arroc. “What’ll you do then?”

     “Makes no difference,” replied the black girl, grinning mischievously. “Give me five minutes alone with her and I’ll have her wishing she were a man. Lorgill once told me I could give a table a fifth leg.”

     Teasel blushed in shock, but Dennis and Arroc laughed out loud and together they set off through the trees.

     A few minutes later, standing at the edge of the water, they stared in amazement at the extraordinary building standing on the island. “See?” said the trog, stroking his cords in wonder. “It looks like it’s been carved out of a single giant emerald.”

     “It’s probably just a coating of green glass,” replied Naomi sceptically. “He’s got a strange artistic taste, that’s all.”

     “I’m not sure,” said Teasel though, and some quality in her thin, squeaky voice made the others turn to stare at her. “I think maybe it is an emerald. A single giant emerald the size of a building.”

     “What makes you think so?” asked Dennis.

     The nome paused before answering. “I’ve lived in this part of the world for most of my life,” she said at last. “I’ve heard a lot of old myths and legends, most of them probably made up by old grannies to put children to sleep, but one of them was about a building carved out of a single giant emerald on an island in the Western Sea. It must have been a true tale, told by someone who’d been here. It’s too much to just be a coincidence.”