CHAPTER SIX

LOCATION: LOWER LAND

- -

The group stared around them. Was this all there was to the Lower Land?

Rocky and barren, nothing moved.

“B-but…” Randy spoke, shattering the silence. “There has to be something down here, I mean, where else could the dragon have come from?”

“Maybe it wasn’t real.” Duran said. He was an elf from the other ship. His twin brother, Darun, was with him. To make things harder, they dressed the same way and talked the same way, and walked the same way. The only way to tell them apart was that Duran had a series of scars from a duel years ago. Sometimes he went through the trouble of covering them up using his magic, just to make things worse.

“Oh, it was real.” Randy glared at the elf. “I know what terror is, trust me.”

“You don’t know what terror is, you’re just a human!”

“Wanna’ say that again?!” The two locked eyes.

Raeko sighed. If things heated up, he would have to intervene. This could be hard for Randy, he had only mastered water techniques, and Duran had most likely mastered all of the elements.

Duran charged at Randy, who dodged the attack with surprising swiftness. The human raised his hands at the elf. His eyes glowed and a beam of light shot from his hands, striking the elf in the chest.

Duran went flying back, landing a pile of sharp rocks. His brother rushed over to him, he was unconscious, but breathing.

“What the hell was that, Stronghold?” Darun demanded of the human.

Randy didn’t answer. He was too busy staring at his hands. “I…I don’t know. I didn’t do that.”

“Well,” sighed Darun. “A human attacked my brother and you seem to be the only one around.”

“Calm down you two.” Raeko stepped between them. “If we’re going to complete this mission we have to work together. I don’t think that fighting is going to do much.”

“Look who’s talking!” Darun challenged. "Why do you stop this harmless fight, and not the fight of my brother and that rat?”

“Shut UP!” Another beam shot from Randy, this time from his forehead.

The elf landed beside his brother. Raeko examined them both. They were alright. He turned to get up, then noticed the markings on their foreheads.

Runes.

Like the ones in the ship.

Was Randy the one doing that?

“Randy.” Raeko started toward his friend.

“I swear.” Randy said. “I don’t know what I did.”

“Well, until we figure it out, try to keep your temper under control, okay?” Bolt suggested. “Now let’s get a move on.”

“What?” The third elf from the other ship, Arrion, stared at Bolt. “We’re gonna’ walk the whole way across this thing!?”

“Hmm…” Bolt began pacing around. “I don’t know, the ship isn’t in working and we don’t have any other means of transportation. What do you suggest we do?”

“Uh… Walk the whole way?” Arrion smiled at his idea.

“You ain’t the brightest bulb in the world, are ya’?” Bolt tossed each of them a bag of provisions. “This is all you get. Each man is responsible for his own food and water.”

“Right.” The gang nodded and they set out across the Lower Land.

- -

They traveled for what they suspected to be the better part of the day, stopping twice for short, meager meals before continuing on.

A few times one of them thought they saw something, usually it was Randy. Mariat was busing reading his book. How he managed to walk, read, and not trip over anything at the same time, Raeko had no idea.

Randy would try to get in his way, just to have the elf either step around him or stop until he moved. Randy tried to take the book away from him, but that resulted in the human flying over Mariat’s shoulder and landing on his head.

Finally Bolt, who seemed to be the leader out of the two dwarves, called a halt and told them to stake out a sleeping space for themselves. “We’ve been going for quite awhile now, may as well get some rest so we can start again in a few hours.”

The company was grateful, and immediately fell to the cold floor and slept.

- -

Raeko woke sometime in the night. Or, at least he thought it was night, considering that it was too dark to see much. What he could see was Randy sleeping on his left, and Mariat on his right. The other elves were sleeping somewhere further away, probably not wanting to get mixed up with Randy.

Raeko stood up and stretched, he needed a walk. He wouldn’t go far, and to make sure that he didn’t get lost he found some rope in his bag and tied it to Randy’s leg, leaving a note explaining what it was doing there.

Then he grabbed a biscuit from Duran’s bag and tied Dragon Caller to his belt and started off.

He had been walking awhile when his thoughts went to Randy’s magic. What was the deal with the runes? Had Randy also done the ones in the ship? Where had he learned the magic to use such powerful spells? He surely didn’t know them when they had started the journey; he couldn’t even summon earth yet!

His train of thought ran of the rails as he stumbled. The rope gave a tug and he hoped he hadn’t woken up Randy. When the rope didn’t move again he stood up and continued walking.

One of the things about elves, they have amazing senses. They can smell a grappa cookie a mile away.

“Water?” Raeko could’ve sworn he heard water. He followed the sound and pretty soon he could smell it. He was running now, maybe if he found water he could find a town, and in a town would be people.

People.

What kind of people would live in this barren area?

He was thinking about that when he lost his footing and fell…down the side of a cliff. He shoved Dragon Caller’s sharp blade into the rock. It slowed him some, but if still, if this pace kept up he would be like a panba bug under the foot of a tennar.

Down he fell, and fell.

Falling

Falling

Falling…

Man, this was getting old, let’s just skip ahead.

He fell into a stream.

Water.

He had found the water. And the rope was still intact, and most likely still tied to Randy, so he could find is way back. He would tie the rope around a boulder here so they could find it in the morning and lead them back. Then he would follow the tight rope back to camp and untie it from Randy and put take his time to put it into a better location.

Very pleased with himself, Raeko found footholds and managed to get himself up over the cliff. He found a good sized boulder and looped the rope around it. Making sure that it was tight, he felt around for the rope that was to lead him to Randy. Picking it up, he stumbled across the uneven ground.

Had he really gone THIS far? He sure didn’t remember. It seemed like it was a lot shorter distance. He was lost in his thoughts when the rope went slack. Slack? Why would it go slack?

Then it occured to him.

The rope had been cut.

- 0 -

Randy woke with a start. He felt something wrapped around his leg. Rope?

“Why the heck…?” He was trying to figure out what this all was about when he noticed that every one was gone. There was a note left where Mariat had been sleeping:

Randy,

Do not cut the rope. Following it to Raeko. That’s why we didn’t wake you. Stay where you are, or we may not find our way back. If you get bored, practice your magic and see how much of my book you can read.

Randy sighed and sat back down. He closed his eyes and focused his thoughts on water techniques. He managed to summon up a few shapes. What were they though? He spent his time shaping them and was so engrossed in the activity that he didn’t notice them coming up behind him.

It was too late, he turned just in time to see the human like figure before a rock was taken to his head and he lost consciousness. The rope was cut and used to bind Randy’s feet and hands before Lunazia packed him off, back to her tribe.

- 0 -

Raeko had given up on trying to find a way back to the camp and had decided that he may find something if he followed the stream. He first went up it, and came to a cave where it came out of the ground. There really wasn’t anything else there, so he went down the stream.

He didn’t know how long he walked, stopping every once in awhile to get a drink. The water here tasted different than the water on the Upper Land.

The stream seemed to go on forever. He was thinking of just wandering the Land for awhile when it opened up into a small lake. He looked into the shallow water. Were those fish? And there was some type of grass growing along the bank. This place wasn’t so different from the Upper Land.

Heck, he thought as he speared a fish with Dragon Caller, I could survive here.

After he had gotten the fish, he gathered the dead grasses and summoned fire spirits. It made a small, blue flame, and he was able to cook the fish on it. But because he didn’t have any sufficient fuel he had to endlessly add more and more grass.

But it worked, and in the end he settled down for a nap after eating, Dragon Caller at his side.

- 0 -