on the table in time. Mikahl and Jarrek thought this was hilarious, and after a bit of shouting and shushing, it grew quiet enough that the crackle and pop of the roaring fire could be heard.
“The queen wishes to speak,” the herald called out. “Silence for the words of our wonderful hostess.”
Suddenly, Rosa was speechless and flustered. A silly grin of delight spread across her face. Amazingly, she could hear the roar of the flames themselves. She had never been as happy. All eyes were on her now, especially Mikahl’s. She smiled radiantly. Her skin was peachy and her eyes twinkled brightly. She finally started to speak, but the loud pop of a smoldering knot in the hearth made her jump and giggle. Everyone in the room was smiling. She put her left hand over her mouth to hide her embarrassment and reached her other hand for Mikahl. He took it and let her guide him to his feet beside her.
“Are you drunk, my love?” he asked in a whisper.
Both Lady Able and Lady Lavona heard this and erupted in a peal of excited giggling.
Queen Rosa squeezed Mikahl’s hand and finally found the courage to speak.
Mikahl heard her words, but she had spoken them so quickly that he was left reeling in confusion.
“I’m with child.” Queen Rosa said proudly. “Westland, our king will have an heir.”
As the words slowly sank in, the crowd cheered. Mikahl’s head swam with worry and elation alike. He couldn’t imagine being a father yet, but he also couldn’t wait. The rest of his night went by in a blur of congratulations and windy toasts. The news eventually made its way out to the common folk on the castle grounds, and on to Castleview City.
Later, Master Sholt received a sending from Phen. The wizard took the news of Master Oarly’s death hard. He didn’t allow the information to ruin the night, though. The king and queen hadn’t been that close to the wily dwarf, but he, Lord Spyra, King Jarrek, and most of the dwarves had fought wars with him. Long after the feasters were settled, while the remains were being cleared, he wheeled out a small keg of Harthgarian whiska. He filled their cups with the potent, fiery liquid and then told them how Master Oarly gave his life to save Marble Boy and Hyden Hawk for the good of the realm. None of them slept that night, and by the time the sun came up they had drunk themselves sober.
Just after Phen made the sending to Master Sholt, Princess Telgra entered his room. She didn’t knock. She shut the door behind her and bolted it. She was wearing the sheerest of gowns, and seemed determined to win her way through Phen’s grim mood.
The sight of her nearly naked body in the candlelight caught Phen’s attention, but it didn’t stop the tears he was crying for his old grumpy friend. Breaking the news to Master Sholt had been one of the hardest things he had ever done. Telgra stepped up to him and pulled his head against her breast. She shushed him softly. Eventually, her soft kisses, and the feel of her fingers gliding through his hair, quelled his sorrow.
When she kissed him, a spark flared. Passion replaced his misery. They kissed hungrily. Into an already potent flame of love erupted a blazing bonfire.
Sweaty and alive with contradicting emotions, she pulled away and whispered to him. “My people will be here on the morrow. Though you will be traveling with Dostin and me, there will not be much time for us to be alone together.”
“Will you tell your people how you feel about me?”
“Only after I confer with my Queen Mother,” she answered honestly.
He would have protested, but her hand slipped into his britches and gripped him tightly.
Phen’s words died into the kiss that followed. Soon she peeled away her gown, revealing her perfect apple- sized breasts. She took her time undressing him, then climbed up onto him. Their passion overtook him so quickly that he almost felt shame, but she took her time, and they ended up making love throughout the night.
There was no way for anyone to know such a thing, but the casting made by the elven circle did summon the Arbor Heart. Altered by dragon magic and the water of the Leif Repline fountain, Phen was now something more than human. The Arbor Heart, awakened by the meddling old elves, decided that not only would Princess Telgra follow her mother as leader of the race of elves, but her child would lead them after that. A child that was as much human as it was elf.
Phen’s child.
Chapter 47
The tunnel seemed like any other rocky cave at first, but after a half hour of traversing it, it became something else altogether: a Shoovway. The dizzying sensation of spinning and spiraling made it hard to walk. The great wolves, who were padding along beside the group, grew timid. More than one whine of worry escaped them. Talon didn’t fly. The hawkling rode on Huffa’s back, gripping her fur and flapping his wings for balance every so often.
“The sensation will pass,” Durge said, but the unease in his own voice was unmistakable.
Hyden’s magical orb light stayed a constant above his head, and Corva showed Jicks how to keep it in his field of vision so that the powerful feeling of vertigo didn’t make him stumble and fall. For a short time, even that didn’t help. The very walls around them, and the roughly-hewn ceiling and floor, seemed to become misty. It was like the surface of a tubular lake reflecting a storm racing past them. Then, all of a sudden, they were standing in an ordinary cave again.
The first thing they noticed was that the air was considerably warmer, but it was still cold by any standards. When they finally saw daylight ahead of them, they were more than relieved. Talon went flying out of the opening to explore, and Hyden sought out the hawkling’s vision. As soon as he saw the world beyond the cave, he knew they were no longer in the Giant Mountains, yet it was still late morning.
As Talon soared, Hyden saw in his mind’s eye an expanse of tree-littered plains. The morning frost was still reflecting from the leaf-strewn grass as if it were all covered in a sparkling pastry glaze. Hyden also noticed that the leafless trees seemed wrong somehow. They were tall and thick, yet the branches were gnarled and twisted. They reminded Hyden of the dying tree he’d sat under while trying to pass Dahg Mahn’s trials. He sensed the presence of what they were after, though. It wasn’t very far; either that, or its power reached farther than Hyden could imagine. The Tokamac Verge lay to the east of them, or was it west now? Hyden wasn’t sure where north was at the moment. If north was now south, as everyone said it would be, then east was now west. He shook his head and chuckled. It didn’t matter. With the great wolves carrying them, they would be able to follow their own scent trail back to the Shoovway’s entrance.
Talon circled back toward the cavern they were in. It opened a few dozen feet above the plain in a large granite formation that seemed to have just pushed up out of the otherwise flat expanse of land. Getting down would be easy enough. Through Talon’s eyes, he could make out plenty of hand and toe holds. For him, it would be like climbing down a stairway.
He urged Talon to circle higher and take in what lay in the direction he sensed the artifact.
“Before we exit, let’s eat a hearty meal,” Hyden suggested. “It will allow Talon and me enough time to explore our course and search out dangers.”
Durge and two of the great wolves had eased up to the cavern mouth and were looking out at the strange, malformed trees that dotted the landscape. Huffa stuck her head out into the sun and sniffed tentatively.
“This might be the last true shelter we see for a while,” Durge said. “Since we are not heading back into the mountains until our return, I think we should cache some of our cold weather gear here.”
“That’ll lighten our load,” Hyden said. “From what Talon can see, the terrain isn’t going to change much, if at all.”
Corva and Jicks took a peek out.
“If we continue to wear these shagmar cloaks, we’ll look like hairy creatures, not civilized folk,” said Corva. “That could work both for us or against us, depending on what we come across.”
“The people from here my father traded with were dark-skinned men with crude animal-hide cloaks, and wild, bushy hair that was dyed blue, green, and red.” Hyden told them. “We will remain cautious, but I don’t think they will be a threat.”
Corva nodded and began removing things from the pack he deemed no longer necessary. Jicks did the same,
