The Sword of Retribution

Haldorn - Part 2

     It took several more hours to leave the palace grounds, which surrounded the palace for nearly ten miles in all directions, but in the light of the red sun the questers were only able to get a vague, shadowy glimpse of them which they didn’t doubt were incomparably beautiful in the daylight. Even the night vision of the trogs, which surpassed that of Jerry and Lirenna, didn’t help them to see and appreciate the gardens, since it worked by allowing them to see the temperatures of objects via their infra-red emissions, and everything around them was the same temperature making it appear a uniform shade of grey. If there’d been someone hiding amongst the foliage his body heat would have made him easily visible to them, and their companions riding with them were indeed visible in that way, as were their mounts and the slaver, the creature being warm blooded like them.

     It was around midnight, as the red sun was setting, when they finally came to the tall, strong fence surrounding the palace and its gardens, patrolled by guards and savage fighting dogs. Arjeb had evidently sent word ahead, though, because the guards opened the gates as soon as they arrived and allowed them through without a word. Thomas hoped they would let them in again as readily when their mission had been accomplished and they wanted to go home.

     Outside the palace grounds, they were finally on their own for the first time, with no more help to be had from the Fellowship, or indeed from anyone, and despite all the assurances and the force of hard logic, all eyes turned nervously to the slaver. They all knew that if the creature was going to make a move against them, it would be now, and none of them had any illusions about the outcome if it did so. The cthillian paid them no attention, though. It merely continued to walk serenely beside them, and after a time the others relaxed and turned their attentions back to the road ahead.

     The Haldornian countryside was arid and desolate, in marked contrast to the palace gardens which, even in the darkness of the night, they’d been able to see were lush and green. Thomas wondered how the prince managed to keep them irrigated and protected from the heat of high summer, now only a few weeks away. Obviously there was some powerful magic involved, and he remembered that there’d been many Haldornians at the University, including his roommate whose harsh, abrasive manner he’d come to loath. He wondered whether he’d meet him, now that he was travelling through his homeland, and the possibility sent a shudder through him. Then he remembered that he was travelling with a slaver and a wicked grin spread across his face as some possibilities occurred to him. “Hey, Conrast,” he imagined himself saying. “Great to see you again! There’s someone over here I’d just love you to meet...”

     The eastern horizon was beginning to glow with the approach of dawn when the cthillian called a halt in its imperious, telepathic voice. “We will make camp now until tomorrow night,” it stated, its tone of voice indicating that it wasn’t asking for their agreement. It was simply telling them what would happen, in the same way that it would have said that the suns rise in the east. Disobedience from these lesser creatures was not only forbidden, it didn't even occur to it as a possibility. “Find yourself a place away from the road where you won’t be seen. I will return after sunset.” It then turned away and disappeared into the darkness.

     “Where’s he going?” asked Matthew, gesturing after the departing creature. “Ol’ Charlie’s too good to sleep with the rest of us, eh?”

     “I expect he trusts us about as much as we trust him, and doesn’t want to take any chances,” mused Thomas. “While the sun’s up it’ll be vulnerable, having to shelter in a shadowy hole somewhere, unable to emerge or be burned, and it probably feels a lot safer with us not knowing where it is.”

     “It makes me feel a lot safer as well,” added Lirenna. “I couldn’t possibly sleep with that creature only a few feet away.”

     Diana agreed with that, and most of the others we're nodding as well, although they didn’t say so out loud. They found a clump of trees about a hundred yards from the road, big enough to conceal all of them and their horses, where they unsaddled the mounts and, after tethering them with long ropes, left them to graze on the stunted, straw coloured grass that grew there. Then they spread their sleeping blankets out on the hard, dry ground and settled down to rest.