“Don’t let your thing get hard over her now, lad,” Oarly said, as deadpanned as he could manage. “It might break off. Then you'll be in a real fix.”
Since then, Phen had tried to keep his thoughts about the elf from drifting too far. Oarly’s little warning, though, only made it all the harder to avoid thinking of her in that context. Phen still hadn’t figured out if Oarly had been jesting or not. Either way, there was too much at stake to be taking chances. He found himself trying to associate her sweet scent, and the golden glint of the sunlight on her hair, with something repulsive, like the smell of the serpent, or visions of a half-naked Oarly fighting the iron skeletons in the cave. Spike was no help in the matter. The lyna cat spent more time with the elven girl than he did with Phen. She knew all the right places to scratch his ears, and did so fondly.
“So I can go on this journey with you?” she asked carefully. “I’ll not be a bother.”
“Can you do anything?” Oarly asked. “We won’t be riding in carriages, or traveling in boats. The Giant Mountains are as harsh as it gets, especially since winter is moving in. We won’t be riding much, either. Can you hunt, or wield a sword? Can you handle the rough of the wild?”
“I’m an excellent archer,” she blurted out defensively. Then she giggled happily, realizing that she just remembered something about herself.
Oarly’s winking nod assured her that he had planned the tricky questions all along.
Phen’s smirk showed plainly that he thought Oarly was full of it. “Yes, you can come along,” Phen answered her question. “But we need a name for you. Since our Master Dwarf is so smart, let’s see if he can drag you into blurting out your name.”
“I’ll do it too, lad,” Oarly boasted. “Just you wait and see.”
“I almost had it,” she said with an exasperated huff. “I can’t stand this not knowing.”
“Just make up a name for now,” Oarly suggested. “What do you want your name to be?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” she said with a contemplative frown. Her feral yellow eyes made her look angry as she thought about it.
“How about Karee?” Phen asked. “That was my mother’s name. At least that was the name the ladies at the orphanage told me.”
“Karee,” she sounded it out, tasting the way it felt on her lips. A smile spread across her face. “Karee it is.”
“Bah!” Oarly exclaimed. “That’s about as elven as Oarly Shardsworth.”
“Karee is a beautiful name,” she said. “And I like it. From now on, call me Karee.”
“Lady Karee,” Phen corrected. Her mannerisms and intellect spoke of nobility. Phen saw it even if she and Oarly didn’t.
“No, Phen, just Karee for now,” she told him.
“The idea of the exercise was for her to decide what she wanted to be called, lad,” Oarly grumbled. “You challenged me to get her to reveal her name and then you ruined my plan.” He got to his feet and scowled through his hairy face. “I’m going out to get some air.”
“Thank the gods,” Phen joked. “You are a miserable companion when you are sober. I can’t believe there wasn’t a drop of drink to be found anywhere in Oktin when we stopped over.”
“That’s what happens when a few hundred dwarfs start building a palace.” Oarly looked back and grunted as he exited the cabin. He paused at the door and had to fight to suppress his smile. “Remember what I told ya, lad,” he warned. “Don’t let it break off now.”
“Break off?” Karee asked, looking at Phen with a curious expression.
“Nevermind him,” Phen sighed. He took a breath, trying to focus his mind on the feel of Master Sholt’s wand smacking across his knuckles in class.
“What’s wrong, Phen?” Karee asked. “You don’t look like you want me to go on your quest with you.”
“I’d rather you than Oarly, any day,” he laughed. “Of course you can come along, but since Dreen is so close to the Evermore forest, wouldn’t you rather go see your people?” Phen shrugged. “Surely someone is worried about you. Your mother and father, a friend. We might be long months in returning from the Leif Repline fountain.”
At the mention of her father, she felt hollow for a moment. For a fleeting instant she knew, but something swept in and filled that void before the memory could manifest itself into a true reflection of the past.
Phen noticed the sudden blank expression and the vacant, almost fearful look in Karee’s wild yellow eyes. He put his hand over hers and squeezed gently. His touch, as cold and hard as it was, put a bright smile on her face. It must have been a contagious smile because he found himself grinning back at her stupidly. Spike broke the moment by leaping onto the bench where Oarly had been sitting.
Phen was as pleased as he was surprised when she didn’t let go of his hand and purposely used her free hand to scratch behind the prickly lyna’s ears.
“I would rather go back to my people knowing who I am,” she said absently, after a time. “I have a feeling that this is all happening to me for a reason.” She forgot Spike and put her other hand over Phen’s so that he now had both of her hands in his. He wished he could feel her touch more specifically.
“I had a vision of you finding me.” She scrunched up her face, searching for an explanation. “I know that much in my heart, so I will follow the course I am on and see where it leads me.” She sighed and rolled her shoulders. “But, as you said, someone might be worried about me. I don’t even know that my family is from the Evermore Forest, but surely someone there would know of a missing elven woman. Is there a way I could get a written message to the elves when we get to Dreen?”
Phen didn’t think that the term elven woman described her very well. She appeared far too young to be considered a woman grown, but he understood the desire to be accepted by one’s peers. “Of course,” he told her. “We can send a rider or two to Vaegon’s Glade. They can leave your message there. Your people will find it.”
Again she felt the tremor of memory as Phen spoke. Vaegon-the name seemed vaguely familiar to her, but she didn’t know who he was, or why she recognized the name.
“Who is Vaegon?” she asked before the thought left her.
“He was a friend of Hyden Hawk and King Mikahl,” Phen said reverently. “The only elf who concerned himself with helping stop the demon wizard from using Xwarda’s powerful bedrock to destroy the world. Lord Gregory said it was because Hyden saved his life the year before last at the Summer’s Day festival, but both Hyden and Mikahl said that it was more than that. They think of Vaegon as a hero of the realm. He died fighting a Choska on the wall in Xwarda.”
The stirring in her mind continued, but never centered on anything. The idea that only one of her people would stand up against such an evil foe seemed to block out the rest of it. For a long time she chewed on her cheek and thought.
Phen found his adolescent mind wandering in the wrong direction again, so he busied his mind with the thoughts of the Leif Repline and of hopefully getting to see Hyden Hawk soon. Oarly broke the silence this time when he stormed into the little cabin. The dwarf seemed uplifted by his stint of the air above.
“You love birds need to get ready,” Oarly said excitedly. “The fork is in view, and the rumor is that there’s plenty of wine, so don’t dally.”
It was midday before Corva slipped back into consciousness. Dostin had carried him a long way through the swamp following King Mikahl. Mikahl didn’t remember Dostin from his short stay on the Isle of Salaya, but Dostin remembered the High King and his legendary sword. He wanted to ask a thousand questions but was too nervous and overburdened with Corva’s weight to get them out of his mind. By the time they stopped, the monk was so out of breath that he couldn’t talk.
“This is a deep enough channel to be reached by river boat,” Mikahl told the monk. He couldn’t believe that the man had carried his elven friend through the night. It was a valiant accomplishment. The monk hadn’t so much as complained. As a matter of fact, Mikahl was sure that Dostin hadn’t even grunted or made a sound at all.
After Corva was laid in a comfortable looking position, King Mikahl gave Dostin back his makeshift staff and used Ironspike to start a fire. “Watch over him. I'm going on to Low Crossing. Wait here.”
“Are you coming back?” Dostin asked fearfully. He suddenly blushed and took a knee. “Your Highness,” he added.
“A boat will be along for the two of you soon. I’ll see to it personally. Just keep putting grass on the fire so they can make out the smoke.” Mikahl gave his best reassuring smile. He started to say something about the monk kneeling, but was too exhausted. For a long while he just watched Dostin. “Get up, my friend,” he finally said after
