The Maze - Tor's Quest Book 2

Chapter 30

"Frack," Seth exclaimed.

Tor apologised for their surprise, explaining to Yafen that, up until that moment, they had all believed that skelks were a myth. He moved his hand away from his sword, indicating that everyone else should also relax. Brin lowered his bow, but did not remove the arrow. Being able to talk did not mean that the skelk was friendly and it was still too close to Sam for his liking.

Looking around him, Tor decided they were in a good enough place to stop for the night. The sun would not provide enough light for them to continue their climb up the mountain for long and inviting the skelk to join them for dinner would give him the opportunity to question the creature. Nobody seemed happy when he suggested they make camp where they were and have something to eat, but none of them verbalised their disapproval; their faces said it all.

Yafen was uneasy about staying with these strange humans, but his curiosity got the better of him and he agreed to eat with them. It suddenly struck Tor that he had absolutely no idea what a skelk classed as food and was relieved when Yafen said that some of the dried meat they were serving with bread and cheese would be adequate.

Samson slowly walked up to the skelk, who froze when he spotted him. "It's okay, he is with us," Sam explained as Samson sniffed him all over, but her words did not calm Yafen, who remained stiff until Samson walked away. "I take it you have had some bad experiences with wolves?" she continued, when Yafen had relaxed his stance.

"Yes," he replied, but did not explain further. During the meal, Tor and Sam, who seemed the only ones prepared to speak with the skelk, told him their reason for being on the mountain and explained their initial hostility toward him. While they spoke, Yafen remained silent and showed no reaction to what he was hearing. When Tor got to the part about the group of young men being attacked and some of them killed, he became very animated.

"That is not true," he shouted, jumping to his feet. "They attacked us. We merely defended ourselves."

"I would not call what you did defending yourselves," Patrick cut in harshly. "Why did you not just injure them then send them back home?"

Yafen's eyes went cold. "We did. Their reaction was to try to harm our females and young." He spoke slowly and deliberately, trying to keep his anger under control. "Tell me human, what would you have done?"

Patrick was unable to answer. He had not known that the skelk had brought their wives and children to the mountain and, from the look on the faces of those nearest to him, he was not the only one who was disturbed by Yafen's words.

"It looks like there is more to the story than the villagers have told us," Tor said in a placating manner. "How many skelks are in the mountain and why have you come?"

Yafen sat down once more and answered Tor's questions. He took his time and his whole audience listened to his words avidly, their uncertainty about him pushed aside by their curiosity. Never before had they met an 'old wives tale', let alone heard one describe his life.

He told them all about his tribe, which had lived peacefully on the other side of the mountain. Their homes were caves; some were natural and others they had carved out themselves, and they mainly only left them at night. A skelk's eyesight was far superior to even an elf's in the dark, but during the day the light was too bright for them, greatly affecting their vision. This enabled them to hunt effectively and also to avoid contact with other species, especially humans.

"That was before the dragon came," he said quietly. He stopped talking, expecting to hear horrified exclamations, but there were none. Many pairs of eyes looked at him expectantly when he did not continue.