The Ivory Star

Chapter 7

Eric glanced over his shoulder at the majestic explosion of color as the great, silver sun slowly sank below the skyline of the forest behind them. This world did indeed have some of the most beautiful sunsets he had ever seen on any world. Angus plodded evenly beside him into the grassy, rolling hills of Armond. The forests of Ophidia and the terrors of Ryvan Marsh were behind them now.

As they walked, Eric said, "What do we do if Valerion is less than friendly?"

Angus's face was a grim mask. "I don't know."

"He may just kill us outright."

"Then he'd better have kept his distance."

"But what if—?"

Angus cut him off. "What happened with Sneev and the Marsh Men will not happen again. I'm through being bashed on the melon and toted about like a sack of grain."

Silently Eric nodded, seeing the anger and humiliation in the set of Angus's jaw.

Before long twilight cloaked the land, lending long, deep shadows to the valleys below the hills, darkening the tough grass rustling at their mounts' passage. "Hah, look there!" Angus cried. In spite of his weariness, he took off running down the slope, and Eric could only follow him. A slender stream gurgled from beneath a small escarpment below a particularly tall group of hills. Angus reached the escarpment, and dove into the crystal clear pool without an instant's hesitation. Angus sloshed and dived, surrounded by a grayish haze of marsh mud and grime from their long flight. "The water's fine. It's crystal clear!"

"Not anymore, mudball," Eric said with a smile, but he followed quickly enough, dropping their provisions at the edge and diving in.

Angus laughed like a youth, diving and splashing, rubbing the dirt and mud from his limbs. Before long their clothes floated on the surface, and they sloshed them about and wrung them out, leaving clouds of filth and dried blood in the water. They cleaned their scabrous wounds, and Angus took special care with his wounded hand, looking carefully for infections, flexing his stiffened fingers. They drank from the cool, clear water springing from the rocks above. An hour later, darkness had fallen completely, and the two travelers rested naked on the edge of the pool, weariness washed away with the grime and replaced by a content languor. They took dry sticks from the scrubby bushes near the pool, and using the flint and steel Gerion had given them soon had a small fire burning, their clothes stretched out nearby faintly steaming in the cool night air. While waiting for their clothes to dry, huddled near the fire for warmth, they gnawed on the tough bricks of mixed dried fruit and meat the Marsh Men had given them, saying little as they stared into the fire. With their clothes comfortably dry, they fashioned themselves some makeshift beds from the springy prairie grass and settled down for a night's rest.

Eric lay awake on the ground, listening to the noises of the night creatures, staring up at the stars, vainly trying to recognize just one of the many constellations he was familiar with. He saw nothing even remotely familiar. The silvery splash of the galactic arm was low on the horizon, and instead of a streak, it was more of an oblong disk. But then he thought perhaps he should not assume they were even in the Milky Way galaxy. Who knew what vast gulfs of space they had crossed to arrive at this place? The trackless emptiness of space seemed to draw him up as it always did, and he floated among the twinkling beads of color sprinkling the black abyss. Among the stars he drifted forever and ever, enthralled and enticed by their beauty ...

Wakefulness came violently.

His eyes snapped open to stare through the web of a stout, tangling strands. Instinctively he began to thrash about, trying to throw off the net, but only succeeded in firmly embedding himself within it. His hand fought for his sword hilt nearby, and he found it, trying to bring the blade to bear and cut himself loose, when a sudden gripping paralysis seized him, a horribly familiar paralysis. His eyes searched the darkness. Several waspish, black-cowled figures moved around them.