The Sceptre of Samnos

Dermakarak Part 2

     They left only a few guards when they settled down for the night. They were still in more or less civilized territory, and so had little fear of being ambushed by evil creatures. Thomas watched the smallest moon speeding across the sky for a few minutes and thought of what the trog had told him. He'd more or less assumed that the fall of Agglemon had been solely a human tragedy, that the other civilized races had been unaffected and had carried on throughout the human dark age just as normal, but now he knew that they'd been affected as well, although maybe not as badly. There's so much we don't know about each other, he realised. There should be more contact between humans and the other races, so we can grow to understand each other better. These were his last thoughts before falling asleep.

     Early the next morning, they broke camp and prepared to leave. The three young wizards spent a few minutes scanning through their spellbooks, looking for spells that had changed overnight and memorizing the new words. Then Lirenna went with Diana to the grove of trees so they could answer their calls of nature in each other's safe company, while Connery kept a protective watch over them from a distance. While they were gone, Thomas asked Jerry "How long do you think that spell she put on him will last?"

     "Well, he's not too bright," said the tiny nome speculatively. "A few weeks, at least. Long enough to last for the duration of this little adventure, anyway."

     "We hope," said Thomas, frowning unhappily. "You know how unpredictable that particular spell is. What if it wears off early? He's likely to be a little bit annoyed, to say the least." He discovered that the thought of something bad happening to the demi shae caused him more unease than he would have expected, than if it had been Jerry in that situation, for instance. She seemed to bring out the protective side of his nature. It was her beauty, of course, and the slender frame of her body, giving her the appearance of fragile delicacy, as if she might snap at the slightest rough treatment, like a slender reed. Thomas was bright enough to realise he was developing a crush on her, and to know how hopeless such feelings were. The shae folk, even demi shae, almost never became romantically involved with those of other races, something that bolstered popular opinion of them as aloof and contemptuous of others. He would just have to be content with worshipping her from a distance.

     "We'll worry about that when it happens," said Jerry, suspecting nothing of Thomas's secret feelings. "She can always put the same spell on him again, if the worst happens."

     "If she hasn't already used up all her magic that day," said Thomas. "I'm going to be keeping a very close eye on that character, and his two friends." He meant it, he was surprised to find. He, and his single spell, would stand between Lirenna and all three of the ruffians if it should come to that. His own safety was nothing. Hers was everything.

     "Yeah, me too," agreed Jerry. They stopped talking and Thomas breathed a sigh of relief as the women returned, this time without incident, and a few minutes later, just as the yellow sun was showing itself through a gap in the mountains, they saddled up and moved on.

     About midday the road began to climb the sloping side of the valley, and soon a steep drop had opened up beside them, giving them a splendid view out across the wide valley. The trogs strode confidently up to the edge to look out, as did Lirenna, her elfin face bright with delight at the beauty and majesty of the scenery, but Jerry and the humans huddled close to the reassuring bulk of the mountain rising behind them. "This is the road to Dermakarak," said Shale with satisfaction. "It's just a few hours ahead now. We'll make camp a couple of miles from it and move in tomorrow morning."

  
     "What's at the other end of this road?" asked Shaun.

     "It leads to the city of Tal-Zakka, about sixty miles west of here. Not a very large city, as our cities go, but an important trading centre. It's where we sold all the valuables we got from the mine. We were going to dig a tunnel to it. Much safer than moving about on the surface, but the gold ran out too soon. Maybe we'll do it this time."