Chapter 5

Hop ‘Til You Drop

Novembre 30, 5599

 

The party appeared on the east side of the Boscares River no more than fifty feet away from the slow-moving water. After two exhausting hops, they were relieved to find that they were completely alone. As everyone began to relax, Alizabet sat down on the sandy beach and took a drink of water from her water pouch. The others took this as a sign that they could relax for a moment, each trying to put their thoughts in order.

“Does anyone know what happed back there with Fryck?” Cyereth asked, rubbing the side of her head with one hand.

Maidawn gulped, remembering her gnightmare, which made her body shake, the images of what she had witnessed still fresh in her mind. She decided that she needed to speak up. “I was reliving what was supposed to be a pleasant memory. It was when Zift and I met Thorfrn and he decided to join us after his mine collapsed. It started off as I remembered it, but that wasn’t the way it ended. Zift attacked Thorfrn and they fought.” Maidawn’s hands began to shake as the gnightmare resurfaced, causing her to relive the horror of her brother being killed.

Cyereth approached her friend and laid a comforting hand on the girl’s hands. Maidawn looked up at her and smiled.

“It was strange. Even though I was living the gnightmare, I knew that it wasn’t real. When Thorfrn embedded his pick in Zift’s chest and . . . and . . . and killed him . . .” Maidawn shuttered.

Thorfrn jumped when he heard this, a frown crossing his face.

Cyereth put and arm around her friend’s shoulder and lightly squeezed her, lending support to her friend. “It’s okay, Maidawn. It didn’t really happen.”

Maidawn nodded her head and reached a hand up to her shoulder to squeeze the elf’s hand. “I know. I do. But it seemed so real. In the gnightmare, I attacked Thorfrn with a bolt of lightning and blew a hole all the way through his chest.”

Thorfrn patted his chest with one hand, relieved to find himself uninjured. “I would never attack me friend,” Thorfrn said, reaching over and lightly punching Zift in the shoulder.

“Me either,” Zift agreed, smiling at the dwarf.

“I know,” Maidawn continued, “but that’s what happened. I think my Amber magic woke me from the gnightmare. When I opened my eyes, I found Fryck laying on the ground unconscious, smoke coming from his clothing. I must have really used my magic and struck him with lightning even though I was asleep, or something.”

“Ha! Serves him right!” Thorfrn punched a fist into his palm. “I hope that wee nasty gnome has learned his lesson, but I doubt it.”

“Yeah. I agree.” Zift nodded as he looked at the dwarf. He walked over to Maidawn and nuzzled her neck reassuredly. “I’m okay, sis. I promise.”

She nodded. “I know. It just scared me.”

“Hmm, you used your magic even while in the middle of a gnightmare induced by Fryck.” Alizabet bend her legs and crossed them as she thought about this new development with Maidawn’s magic. She rested her hands on her knees. “That’s interesting, isn’t it? Your Amber magic is quite amazing, even protecting you when you aren’t even conscious. Amazing.”

“Well, I for one am glad that it broke her out of her gnightmare.” Braunk stamped a front hoof in anger. “My dream was bad enough, I cannot imagine what each of you must have gone through.”

“It weren’t good.” Thorfrn rapped on his helm, as if he were trying to knock the gnightmare out of his memory. Then he shrugged his shoulders. “Eh, whatever. I be fine. I know me pa is fine. Everythin’ is fine,” Thorfrn said, as if trying to convince himself that it was true.

“It sure wasn’t,” Zift agreed, slowly shaking his head. He turned to the dwarf. “No, it’s not, Thorfrn.”

“Bah!” Thorfrn waved the welcorg off, not wanting to hear anything more about it.

N’kkitta bowed her head. “I’m so sorry everyone. It’s my fault we were sent there. I was in a hurry to pick a good spatial pocket and found one to right about where we are now. I take full responsibility.”

“Now, now, child,” Alizabet said soothingly. “There’s no need for that. Accidents happen. All of us are alive and relatively well.”

Maidawn turned to the bloclab, searching her memory for the moment when Pÿræcÿndér was charging down on them. “It was me, wasn’t it? I shook your shoulder asking you to hurry and hop us.”

“Maybe,” N’kkitta said softly, “but it was still my responsibility to get us to the right spot, and I didn’t.” She hung her head, defeated.

Alizabet climbed to her feet and approached N’kkitta. She squatted and put a finger under the bloclab’s chin, raising it until the girl was looking the enchantress in her eyes. “N’kkitta, there’s one thing you need to realize about us. We’re a team and we work together. We don’t lay blame on anyone or even ourselves. We’re working together to save the world we know. Will there be mistakes? You bet there will be. But will we be blaming each other for these mistakes? No, we won’t. What we’ll be doing is supporting each other, not matter what has happened. So, does it matter that we accidentally hopped to the Sambeen Slough? No, it doesn’t. Did we all have gnightmares and experience some rather horrible alterations to some of our memories. Yes, we did. But, no one died. No one was physically hurt. We’re all fine and we love having you with us. You’re one of us now and we’re all here for you. Use us. Lean on us for support as we’ll lean on you. You are wanted and loved here.”

A tear ran down N’kkitta’s cheek, feeling the support of this older woman.  Overcome by emotions, she stood and hugged the enchantress. “Thank you,” she whispered in Alizabet’s ear as she felt someone approach her from behind. She found herself in the middle of a huge hug from everyone in the party, except from Thorfrn, who only rested a hand on N’kkitta’s shoulder. His other hand rested in the middle of his chest, supposedly where Maidawn had hit him with lightning.

As they all broke apart, Alizabet said, “By the way, I have a spell that can make everyone mostly forget your recent gnightmare. I have already used it on myself, wanting that horrendous memory to fade. I barely remember mine. Would anyone like for me to help make you forget your gnightmare?”

Everyone agreed except Thorfrn. “No magic in me head, thank you very much. I’ll live with me memory intact, even if it wasn’t somethin’ that really happened.”

“Very well then.”

Thorfrn moved behind the enchantress as she pointed at each member of the party and stated, “Ìjkôhf  äskælf kûñk gÿz.”

As their gnightmares faded from memory, each member of the party sighed with relief, a smile crossing their faces. “Thank you, Alizabet,” each one stated.

When she was done, the enchantress turned to Thorfrn and asked, “Are you sure?”

“Am I sure I don’t want you messin’ around inside me cranium? I’ll be polite here. Yes, I’m sure I don’t want no magic in me head.” He pointed at the side of his noggin. “Time will erase me gnightmare and I can live with the memory of it for now.”

Alizabet shrugged her shoulders. “That’s fine by me.” She turned back to the rest of the party. “Let’s take a break here for an hour to refresh. We have a nice river to look at with the Cayuse Palins at our back. There shouldn’t be any danger here at all.”

Everyone agreed as they broke into groups to talk about both the dr’gÿn attack and the Gnight Gnomes. They took their time relaxing after the stressful situations that they had found themselves in after the previous hops.

 

Two hops later, they stood outside Yärum, the main camp for the centaurs. Braunk was overjoyed to be home. As they made their way through camp, they party had to keep stopping so Braunk could hug all of his centaur friends. Finally,  he ushered them to the home of their leader.

Elliwhey stepped out of his tent and he shouted for joy. “Braunk, my good friend. Get over here and give me a hug!”

The two clasped for about ten seconds, pounding each other’s back, before they separated.

“And do I spy Alizabet there?” Elliwhey motioned for Alizabet to move toward him. “Come over here and get your hug too.”

Alizabet laughed like a little girl at the large orange centaur. “Oh, you,” she said as they separated, lightly slapping him on his chest. “You always know how to give the best hugs.”

Elliwhey smiled down at her and winked. He leaned down and whispered, “Oh, you know it.” Then, he looked up and waved an arm at the party before him. “Would someone like to make some introductions, or am I just supposed to guess who everyone is?”

Maidawn stepped forward and pointed to herself. “I’m Maidawn of Whails. This is my brother Zift. He’s a battle corgi,” she continued, pointing toward each member of the party. “And this is our friend Thorfrn Throkreaver of Mt. Whitestone. Cyereth is an elf scout from Ellÿssiúm. And lastly, I’d like you to meet N’kkitta, a bloclab from Gröll.” As she introduced each one, they nodded toward Elliwhey.

He nodded toward each of them in return, a smile on his lips. “Well, you have shown up just in time for our midday meal. I already know about your mission, as Theleisium and I talked about it when he visited. He stopped here over a week ago on his way north to Devinshyre. The only one he didn’t mention was you, N’kkitta. Is that not interesting? So, you are one of the infamous bloclabs. I never thought I would meet one of your kind. Where exactly is Gröll?”

N’kkitta took a step forward and bowed.

Elliwhey shook his head. “There is no need for that. We are all equals here. Save the bowing for some pompous leader that needs their ego stroked. That isn’t me. I am confident in who I am.”

“Yes, I can see that. We, the bloclabs, I mean, live beyond the Dr’gÿn Thickett, on the other side of the High Steppe Mountains. Gröll is located on an arm of land that is heavily forested, hidden away from prying eyes. As for bloclabs, we are very much into science, like the humans settlers of Kepler.”

“Bah!” Thorfrn spat. “Science! Magic! Who needs them?”

N’kkitta turned to the opinionated dwarf and said, “You do. We’ve been using science to travel here. Otherwise we’d still be fighting out way through the forest of my homeland.”

“Oh, yeah. I forgot that. Okay, maybe science ain’t so bad. Well, not as bad as magic. Nothin’ be as bad as magic.”

Alizabet just shook her head while Maidawn laughed out loud.

“What?” Thorfrn asked defensively. “Never mind!” He swatted a hand at them and then just stood there glowering.

“The famous dwarven attitude.” Elliwhey smiled warmly at the dwarf. “I know it well.”

“How be that?”

“I have a dwarven friend. He shows up everyone once in a while, but I have known him since I was a young foul. His name is Odleath Groakbuster of the Blackbeard Dwarves.”

Thorfrn’s mouth fell open. Here was another reference to the missing Blackbeard Dwarves. Maybe they weren’t so missing after all, if one visited Elliwhey regularly. He closed his mouth and asked, “Blackbeard Dwarves? You actually know one?”

“Yes, indeed I do. Or, at least I used to. Odleath has not been around in a while.” A frown crossed the centaur leader’s face. “I sure hope he is okay, now that I think about it.”

“So, they still be around somewhere, then?”

“I would think so, although I don’t know for sure.” Elliwhey pondered this for a couple of seconds. “I have not met another, except for you, and I am guessing that your blonde beard means that you are not from the same tribe of dwarves as my good friend.”

“Nay, all of the yellow beard dwarves have . . . what did ye call it? Blonde beards. Ain’t never met a dwarf with a black beard.”

“Well, I hope you do someday. He is quite a nice fellow, if not a little gruff.”

Zift laughed at this. Are all dwarves surly like Thorfrn?

Thorfrn ignored the welcorg, knowing he didn’t mean any insult. “Me too,” was all Thorfrn said before he thought to add, “as we are headed to Mt. Forsaken when we leave here.”

Elliwhey flicked his tail vigorously back and forth. “Really? Mt Forsaken, huh? The dead mountain. Why would you want to go there?”

Zift stepped forward and said, “We believe that one of the pieces of Amber Armor is there.”

“Which one?”

“The Amber Helm.”

Elliwhey turned to Thorfrn. “Well, that makes sense. Dwarves are excellent at keeping secrets. It makes sense that they would have been entrusted with one of the pieces you require.”

“Aye, we know how to keep a secret. Sometimes, it’s a problem. I be thinkin’ about this whole Blackbeard Dwarf thing. They be so secretive that I ain’t never heard of them. Neither have me kin.”

“You have to understand.” Alizabet looked at Thorfrn. “They lost their home of over three thousand years. Everything was ruined after the blorc war. The land around them was dead. Their cities were dead. They couldn’t live there anymore. Then one day, the just up and vanished. I do find it interesting the Elliwhey says that he knows this Odleath Groakbuster. If we find him, maybe he can lead us to the helm we seek.”

“Oh, we’ll find him, or my name isn’t Thorfrn Throkreaver.”

“I’m sure we will,” Alizabet agreed.

“Hey now,” Elliwhey jumped in. “I do not know about you, but I am hungry. Why don’t we all gather in my tent for a meal?”

“Well, I be hungry, that’s for sure.” Thorfrn patted his axe in his chest harness.

Just then, a centaur pushing a cart made his way around a tent.

Elliwhey spotted him and put two fingers in his mouth. He blew a loud, shrill whistle. “Oilliyer. Oilliyer! Over here! We need some of your pies for my guests.”

“I’ll be right there,” Oilliyer picked up the pace, the little bells on the side of his cart jingling as he headed toward to Elliwhey and his guests.

As the cart moved closer to them, Maidawn tried to read what it said on the front of the cart. “Ol, Olli, Olliyer.”

Cyereth, who was standing right beside her read, “Oilliyer’s Cart of Finely Crafted Pies.”

Maidawn looked at her friend. “I almost had it.”

Cyereth nodded to her friend. “Yes, those reading lessons are paying off.”

As Oilliyer approached the group, he said, “Oh, boy. Do I ever have some delicious pies for you. You are going to love them.”

“Now wait a minute,” another centaur yelled out as he galloped around a different tent, also pushing a cart, and now headed toward the party. He looked at Oilliyer, judged the distance remaining, and picked up speed trying to beat Oilliyer to Elliwhey’s tent.

“Oh no you don’t!” Oilliyer noticed the other vendor and leaped forward, maintaining his lead.

“Oh yes I do!” Ennian yelled back.

Cyereth read the name of the other cart for Maidawn. “Ennian’s Extremely Excellent Empanadas.” She laughed, as did Maidawn. “Ha! What a funny name for a business. At least it’s descriptive, I guess.” She shrugged her shoulders and both her and Maidawn laughed again.

The two food vendors arrived at the same time, kicking up a cloud of dust and they skidded to a halt.

Just as they were about to start arguing, Elliwhey whistled again, even louder this time, to get their attention.

Both centaurs stood up straight and waited, not a peep escaping their lips.

“Geez, what is going on with you two? We have plenty of guests here that are all hungry. You both can both serve us food. How does that sound?”

“Sound good,” Ennian said first.

“I’m fine with that,” Oilliyer agreed.

Ennian leaned over and whispered to Oilliyer, “I bet I hand out more empanadas than you do pies.”

“I don’t think so,” Oilliyer whispered back, flipping open one of the lids on his cart. “My pies are more delicious than your empanadas. I will hand out more than you.”

“Oh, yeah?” Ennian flipped open one of the lids on his cart and reached inside, extracting three empanadas.

“Yeah!” Oilliyer pulled out a handful of pies and laid them on top of his cart.

Elliwhey stood there, tapping his right front hoof, his arms crossed on his burly chest. Both centaurs looked up and saw this. They smiled sheepishly and looked at each other, knowing that what they were doing was wrong. After all, centaurs generally worked very well together, respecting the hard work and opinions of the other.

Oilliyer, who had eaten Ennian’s empanadas before, decided to pay him a compliment. “Gee, Ennian, I bet your empanadas sure are tasty today.”

Ennian, who had eaten plenty of Oilliyer’s pies in the past said, “Gosh, Oilliyer, I know your pies are excellent, especially the Krickett Pie.”

“They are not as good at your Seasoned Plotato Empanada,” Oilliyer said a little louder. “Or the Jerk Chickun Empanada. So delicious.”

Ennian shook his head. “They are not as tasty as your pies.”

“Oh, yes, they are! They are better!” Oilliyer shouted. “so much better!”

“No, yours are better!”

The two food vendors continued to argue about how each other’s food was better, not their own.

Elliwhey turned around and looked at Alizabet and her friends. He shrugged his shoulders, as if asking, “What are you going to do?”