PELAIR. The Gems of the Golden Serpent.

15. A Fire at Canabal

Balin's alighting was somewhat awkward. He was the first to touchdown, and landing would not be the most suitable word to describe it. He kept his eyes shut all his way down, even though the garfo asked him to open them so they could land safely. Thus, the garfo had to scamper much more than he would have to at the touchdown to drag Balin. The dwarf desperately kicked as he tripped over stones and small shrubs during his landing. Suffice it to say the glider ended unusably.

Rinna, on her part, endured her flight stoically, although her heart pounded at the point of a heart stroke, even if she never showed it. She was supposed to be a priestess, trained to face her fears, and according to her judgment, she had done it rather well. She had done what the garfo had asked her to do; thus, her touchdown was less dramatic than Balin's.

Aela, instead, didn't want to land. It was the most exciting experience that she had ever had in her whole life. Her joy was indescribable. In her mind, she regarded herself as a majestic eagle, plowing serene the heavens just for the pleasure of it. She asked the garfo to let her manipulate the glider after he gave her a quick and easy instruction. She learned swiftly to harness a current of warm air to rise in a circle, imitating and following the graceful flight of a falcon that, for a change, kept her company until they were so high that seen from the ground, they were just a spit in the sky. The girl glided away from the cliff walls from which they had just sprung, to fly over a mighty river, which looked from above like an undulating silver snake, so long that it got lost in the horizon. A vast forest looked like a small patch of grass in the middle of the savannah.

"We must return my lady," motioned the garfo, who felt an instant attachment and empathy for the girl who seemed to share his passion for flying. "Those clouds forecast rough weather," he said, pointing to a massive block of black clouds approaching from the east.

"What is that immense blue patch far beyond?" asked the girl.

"It's the eastern sea, my lady," answered the garfo. "It is where all the land ends," he gestured.

Finally, after having glided in circles as they descended, always followed by that hawk, Aela, and the garfo executed a soft and controlled landing as a swam descending on a calm lagoon. Aela's face showed an ecstatic smile, and her joy seemed limitless.

"Rinna, Balin!" she exclaimed. "It was wonderful!"

"What wonderful could it have been?" Balin replied, grumbling and still wiping the dirt and mud that clung to his clothes and his hair, after his cumbersome landing on a bog.

"Oh Balin!"' said the girl." It was so beautiful!"

After a frugal lunch, the three Garfos disarmed and folded their gliders, so that some of the rods of the glider's frames served as their rig to tow them more easily. They said farewell and set off for the imposing mountain that stood before them.

"I wonder how they will climb up," asked Aela curiously.

"Surely, there must be a path that allows them to ascend. However, I think it will take the garfos some days to get up there," Rinna commented.

The trio of travelers walked without mishap for three days, following the course of the Oroko River, according to the instructions given by Eubio.

By late afternoon of the third day, they arrived at a peaceful, soft sandy beach, formed by the flow of water in earlier times, when the course of the river had followed a different path. The day had been quite warm in spite that it was just the break of the spring.

"This seems like a good place to camp," Rinna said. "Balin. Go try to hunt some rabbits while I set the camp."

"Do you want to come along?" asked Balin to Aela.