The Maze - Tor's Quest Book 2

Chapter 21

"Excuse me," a voice called out from the distance. "Can I come out now?"

All eyes homed in on where Dal stood with the foals, still surrounded by a ring of fire; the excitement of the events that had just unfolded had completely removed him from their minds.

Bellak whispered an incantation and the flames disappeared. This seemed to frighten the two young unicorns more than when they first appeared and they refused to move, no matter how much Dal coaxed them. They pawed and sniffed at the invisible line where the fire had been, but would not cross it, not even when they saw no harm come to Dal. After much persuasion from the adult unicorns, the foals eventually moved forward, but kept looking back over their shoulders until the patch of grass that had been their safe haven could no longer be seen.

It was a weary but triumphant group that set out for the nearest water hole. The sun showed that it was still early afternoon, but none of them had the energy to travel further than necessary that day.

The rest of the journey was mercifully uneventful and less than a week later they arrived at the edge of the Sha-Na plains. It was a surprisingly sorrowful parting. The unicorns and their riders had formed a bond during their time together and there were many promises about renewing friendships when the quest was over. Sam tried to persuade Spike to leave his territory and journey with them for a while longer, but he declined, stating that his herd needed to continue guarding their lands against unwelcome visitors.

Once the unicorns had galloped out of sight, the two-legged travellers, with Samson running along beside then, started trudging down the road. Crossing the plains may have saved them a great deal of time, but they now found themselves without supplies or mounts. They would have to walk to the nearest settlement and hope that they would be able to purchase what they needed.

When they finally arrived at the outskirts of a small village, they were appalled by its condition. Children dressed in rags played in the street, until they saw the strangers approaching. They ran away, emitting terrified screams that brought women running out of their ramshackled houses. Their cold hard faces stared at the strangers as the children huddled behind their skirts. Feeling that he was to blame for the hostile reaction of the villagers, Modo said he would not remain in the village, deciding instead to skirt around it and meet up with the rest on the other side.

Without attempting to speak to the villagers, Tor led his group to the only building that did not look like it would fall down if the wind picked up. The door creaked loudly as he opened it, causing all occupants of the room to look toward him. As expected, he had found the inn. Tor beckoned the others to follow him as he made his way toward the bar, where the innkeeper warily watched him approach. As each person entered the room, they could feel the hostile eyes of the other patrons assessing them. Dal was the last one to enter and when he closed the door behind him there was an audible sigh of relief. The innkeeper smiled at Tor and asked him what he would like. The atmosphere relaxed and the locals turned their attention back to what they had been doing before the strangers had arrived.

"We seemed to have passed some sort of test," Tor commented, indicating the village men who sat close by. They all looked exhausted and had the same dejected expression.

The innkeeper studied him carefully before replying. "They were looking for soldiers uniforms."

"I take it soldiers have been causing problems recently."

The innkeeper nodded. He was no more than middle aged, but held himself like someone much older. "While we are slowly starving because most of what we can grow goes to the local Lord in taxes, they come here and take whatever they want without paying." He looked nervously toward the table around which Sam, Brin, Patrick and Ellen were sitting. "Including the women."