A low gurgle sounded from Logan's empty stomach as the young man skidded down an incline. A bizarre duet resounded in his ears as his grumbling stomach and the infernal buzz simultaneously barked their displeasure. This was becoming too much!
'Shut the fuck up!' Logan thundered, and his voice bounced off the mountains to sound over and over again.
As his curse faded across the Hills, the perturbed rumbling of his belly ceased; the discordance did not.
Bastard! Bastard! Bastard! Bastard! The young man fumed, storming over a rocky ledge, Launce's staff stabbing into the hard-packed ground. This sensation was really getting to be a bother! If it was going to remain this persistent, Logan would have to do something about it.
His blue eyes turned away from the hillsides and fixed on the golden Jewel under his arm. I'm lost, he told himself. Stuck in a mountain range trying to find Prifrane. I've got the Jewel, however, and I am in the Hills. Since I don't have a good shot at finding the town, why don't I search for the Smythe myself? Then I can get the hell out of here and this goddamn feeling will leave me alone!
His anger and frustration agreed, and Logan surveyed the Hills. Then, deciding upon his route, he continued westward, searching for the Smythe.
'My feet are sore, I don't have any food or water, I'm lost, and there's this buzz which is driving me insane!' Logan told the Hills his problems.
Groaning, he sat down, placing the Jewel in his lap. The sun was directly above him, warming the mountains so that sweat dribbled down his face. The brownish yellow soil was like snow, reflecting the rays of the sun and spitting them back into Logan's face. Sunglasses would be so handy right now, the young man thought wistfully.
A fumbling footstep kicked some pebbles free as Logan twirled around. He could sense someone behind a slope of rocks, probably attracted to him by his earlier comments to the Hills. The clumsy step he had caught made Farkarrez's dead warriors a possible choice, but none had been fast enough to have caught up with him already. His heartbeat quickened as his mind suggested Cyrene, but instant depression set in as he knew the girl would be out of the Hills by now-and the blonde had not been as loud and as unskilled as whoever lurked behind those stones.
Cautiously, Logan withdrew Moknay's dagger and slid off his seat. 'All right!' he called. 'I know you're there! Come out!'
Through the glare of the yellow-brown earth, Logan saw the squarish head poke up from behind the rocks, stringy black hair falling into the blue-skinned face.
'Foooooood!' the ogre bellowed, hurriedly stomping toward Logan.
The young man plopped back down to the ground, staring up at the happy ogre with distaste. 'Boy, did you pick the wrong time to come back!' he stated. 'I don't have any food at all! Not even for me!'
The light blue creature stopped before Logan, its wide smile vanishing. 'No fooooood?' it questioned.
Logan shook his head. 'None at all,' he replied. 'Not even a little bit.'
The huge beast cocked its massive head to one side. 'Noooooo?' it asked again.
Logan cast his gaze to the ground. 'No,' he agreed.
Oddly, the ogre's smile returned as it plopped down beside Logan, causing a few rocks to shudder in the minor tremor. Wonderingly, Logan watched as thick fingers reached into a pocket of the tattered pants around the light blue waist and extracted some of the fruit Launce had given Logan.
A gigantic hand thrust itself under Logan's nose. 'Fooooooood!' the ogre boomed cheerfully.
Logan's eyebrows shot up. 'You sneak!' he exclaimed. 'You saved that last handful I gave you!'
The ogre grinned crookedly. 'Gave yoooooou!' it replied, dumping the food in Logan's lap.
The young man peered at the fruit for a moment, contemplating. It wasn't really fair to take something the ogre had so carefully saved, he thought. Then the ogre wouldn't have anything to eat. 'I-I can't take this,' he protested.
The light blue ogre blinked.
Logan handed the fruit back. 'This is yours,' he explained. 'I can't take it.'
The light blue creature frowned when Logan tried to dump the food back into its lap. Huge hands stopped the young man before he could finish ridding himself of the fruit.
'Fooooooood!' the ogre bellowed, giving Logan back what he had returned. 'Yoooooou!'
You're the one who lost his horse; you're the one who doesn't have any provisions, Logan's mind blamed him. You can't go and take someone else's.
Logan faced the blue creature. 'I can't,' he started. 'It's not…'
Contorting its face into a hideous grimace of rage and indignation, the ogre released a furious growl, raising its brawny arms high above its head in a threatening gesture.
'All right! All right!' Logan hastily said. 'I'll eat it!'
The crooked smile reappeared across the light blue face.
Logan devoured the fruit. Even after the weeks that had passed, the food remained ripe and the succulent juices soothed Logan's dry throat. While he ate, the young man laughed at his own eagerness, realizing it was usually the light blue ogre who wolfed down his food.
An idea formed in Logan's brain as he finished a fruit. 'I happen to be lost,' he told the ogre in between mouthfuls of another piece. 'Have you seen my friends?'
'Frrrrrrrriends?' the ogre asked back.
Logan nodded. 'Yeah, especially Cyrene. Blonde, a girl, in a white dress? She might still be in the Hills.'
'Whiiiiiite huuuuuumaaaaaan?' queried the ogre.
'No, she's not the white human,' Logan responded, although, in the ogre's terms, the white-dressed blonde could have been. 'Say, where is the white human? Is he still following me?'
The grin on the squarish face widened. 'Deeeeeead!' it answered. 'Yoooooou!'
For a moment, Logan hesitated, then the realization sunk in. 'Farkarrez!' he cried. 'He wore a white chestplate! And he had been brought back by magic! That was what you had meant, wasn't it?'
'Maaaaaagic!' the creature agreed.
'What about Pembroke? The mad human? Is he still far?'
The light blue beast paused before booming, 'Faaaar.'
Logan threw away the core of the second fruit and started on a third. 'What about Prifrane?' he wondered. 'Can you show me where the town is?'
Puzzlement entered the ogre's eyes, and its smile diminished.
'Lots of people,' Logan tried again, bringing his hands together as if to indicate a lot. 'You know, a village?'
Titanic shoulders heaved as the ogre shrugged.
'You don't know where it is either?' Logan muttered. 'Welcome to the club.'
'Cluuuuuuuub?' the huge creature repeated.
A small smile crossed Logan's lips at the ogre's ignorance. 'Never mind,' he told it.
The ogre screwed up its face. 'Neverrrrrrmind?' it echoed. Its grin widened as it tapped the side of its huge head. 'Meeeeee got!' it declared proudly.
The sun dangled just above the mountaintops as Logan and his light blue companion trudged onward. With hills on either side of him, Logan was not sure exactly where he was in the mountain range, but he had figured the Smythe would be somewhere in the very center. That way it would be difficult to find him, but not impossible.
With Druid Launce's staff lending support, Logan started up a grade. The heavy footsteps of the ogre did not sound beside him, and Logan turned around.
The light blue beast was staring at the dirt, pointing. 'Feeeeeeeet,' it said.
Logan scrambled back down and inspected the soil. As the ogre had noted, a number of prints decorated the earth. Most were booted feet but, here and there, the upside-down U of horseshoes marked the ground. A twinge of hope rose in Logan as he guessed this must be the path to the Smythe, but then he noticed the military order of the horses' hooves and the precision marching of those on foot. And, caught in the midst, was one set of smaller prints-markings that were almost feminine.
'Cyrene!' Logan cried out loud, and the ogre stared at him in confusion.
