“Aye.” Lord Gregory smiled down at the dwarf. “I wish you’d been there, Master Oarly. Vaegon lost an eye, and I nearly lost my life.”
“You did lose your life, to hear my mother speak of it,” said Hyden. “She told me you were a swollen lump until midwinter.”
The Lion Lord nodded. “I owe your family much.”
“They are excited to see you again,” Hyden said. “My grandfather thought highly of you. My father, too. They say that the heart of a true lion beats in your chest.”
“Enough already,” Oarly cut in. “Enough reminiscing. Let’s get some of that stew.”
For once, no one argued with him.
Another blast of wind hit them. This time it didn’t seem to pass. For a long while, as Hyden led them in and around the foothills, it pushed at their faces and hissed across the roughening terrain.
“Look, Phen,” Telgra yipped with delight. “It’s snowing.”
Phen looked up to see that it was. Tiny flakes were blowing at them on the wind.
“Just what we need,” Oarly grumbled.
“You haven’t seen anything yet, Oarly,” Hyden laughed. “We’ll see ten feet of it before winter is over.”
“TEN FEET!” the dwarf exclaimed. He looked from face to face to see if Hyden was teasing him or not. It was clear that he wished he was being jested with again. “I’ll be riding on Phen’s shoulders if we’re going to be out in that kind of mess.”
“That’s too close to the surface, Oarly,” said Phen. “That’s where the snow worms will be hunting.”
“Bah!” Oarly said, still waiting for someone to crack a smile and reveal the joke. No one did.
“I’ll be in one of them rabbit holes your folk live in, Hyden,” Oarly said. “I’ll not be roaming around in the snow.”
“When the snow is ten feet deep, we tunnel through it to get from burrow to burrow. You’ll see.”
“What about the snow worms?”
“You cut a giant sea serpent in half, Oarly. What is so scary about some snow worms?”
Oarly didn’t answer, but his scowl was priceless.
They rounded another set of hills, topped a rise, and then started down into a deep, bowl-shaped valley. They were halfway through it when Lieutenant Welch realized they were already in the well-hidden village of the Skyler Clan. Phen saw it plainly on the man’s face.
Only a tiny gray trickle of smoke spiraling up into the sky from a hilltop, and a concealed tunnel-way, could be detected.
Everyone was startled when a man and woman, both near to Lord Gregory’s age, came right out of a hillside and started toward them. After that, dozens of faces began to peer out from hidden shafts and crannies. Phen was surprised to see so many dozens of people there, and all of them with the same long, dark hair and tan skin as Hyden Hawk. Even the girls looked the same.
“An elf?” Harrap Skyler scowled as he took Lord Gregory’s hand.
“Be kind, father,” Hyden said, showing a little unease.
“Yes, Harrap, be kind,” Hyden’s mother told her mate. “If you act like an old goat, I’ll have Hyden turn you into one.”
The tense moment passed. “So far so good,” Hyden muttered to Phen.
Phen realized that he had never once seen Hyden show such open uncertainty until that moment. He pondered the idea as the snow falling around them changed from a light dust into fat fluffy flakes. In just a matter of minutes the entire valley was covered in a thick blanket of white.
Chapter 26
Lord Gregory took Hyden’s room in the family burrow. Hyden, Phen, Oarly, Telgra, and Lieutenant Welch shared a larger burrow, one usually reserved for livestock. The three men under Lieutenant Welch bunked in the burrow that Borg had once turned into a stable cavern for the horses.
The underground burrows were roomy enough. The walls and ceilings were generally stone slabs formed into square structures, buried by the giants aeons ago. The burrow the companions were sharing had four rooms and a long, covered entry tunnel. The central room was furnished with a carved wooden table and chairs, and a divan made from lashed-together deadfall, cushioned with stuffed goatskin pillows. The other three rooms were for sleeping. Each had a soft, wood frame bed and a small table along with a shelved cubby to store personal items.
Telgra was given her own room. Phen and Hyden shared, as did Oarly and the lieutenant. The main room sported a hearth, and the fire served to warm the other rooms. Smoke was vented through a shaft at the highest corner of the ceiling. There were no windows, but the walls of the main room were carved into a leafy, vine-strewn pattern, which had been worn to near obscurity over the centuries.
Oarly spent a long time admiring the work that one of his ancestors had obviously done. No giant or elf could work stone that well. He drank several toasts to the quality of the craftsmanship.
When the time came, Hyden used Lord Gregory’s farewell as an excuse to get himself, the Lion Lord, and the Eldest alone. He had something of the utmost importance to tell them, but for the three days that his friends were in the village it had been impossible to get the two men away from everyone else.
First, it was the gifts. It took a whole day for the clansfolk to open the thoughtful presents the Lion Lord had brought them. No one had been left out. Every man, woman, and child received something from him and Lady Trella: dolls, wooden blocks, letter boards, toy swords, jewelry, farming implements, leather goods, cloth, and even a few bottles of expensive liquor. It was clear that Lord Gregory had spent a fortune.
That first day, Hyden had given up trying to isolate his uncle and the Westlander. He was thankful that his people were too occupied to worry about Lady Telgra’s presence. The whole snow-covered valley was alive with clacking sword fights and giggling glee.
The second day, Hyden got caught up with the companions in a discussion about the route they should take, the supplies they would need, and the matter of packing the gear for their trek through the Giant Mountains. The ideas and concerns kept him preoccupied throughout the day. Later in the evening, Phen and Oarly approached him, worrying over his unease. Hyden assured them that it had nothing to do with them.
The third day, Hyden finally herded Lord Gregory into his Uncle Condlin’s burrow. Condlin’s boys, Tylen and Little Con, and their mother said their goodbyes and thank yous to the Lion Lord. Hyden showed them his agitation, and thankfully they excused themselves. Finally, Hyden sighed and gathered both men’s attention by getting to the point of his distress.
“She is the daughter of the Queen Mother,” he blurted out to their blank expressions.
“Who is?” Lord Gregory asked.
“The Lady Telgra,” Hyden answered. “I cast a seeing spell on her. One day she will be the leader of all elven kind.”
“By the goddess, she must be moved to a private burrow and treated as her station dictates.” Hyden openly showed his surprise when the Eldest said this. His Uncle Condlin went on. “Just because we have issue with the feral creatures, we can’t just treat her like common folk.”
Hyden couldn’t help but smile at his uncle’s reaction. Maybe there was hope for his people yet. “She doesn’t know who she is,” Hyden reminded them. “Besides that, my father would start a ruckus if any elf were treated better than a clansman.”
The Eldest nodded his agreement. “But what do we do?”
“There are other people looking for her, Hyden,” Lord Gregory said. “Another elf, and a Salayan monk who were in her party. They were separated in a storm. Phen and Oarly washed up on the same chunk of marshland she did.” The Lion Lord went on to explain what he knew about the situation.
“We don’t do anything,” Hyden finally said. “She’s going with us to restore her memory. My concern is that her mother, the Queen Mother, has to be aware that she is alive and well. Phen sent word to the elves from Dreen.” Hyden looked at Lord Gregory with a sympathetic grimace on his face. “No doubt a delegation of elves will soon visit the red city, looking for her.”
