Eventually, however, the pace began to show on them. Jenn gave in and mounted her horse. Rupert was beginning to look a bit tired, despite a few stops, but he still refused to try and mount Timber Leaf. After another two hours he was beginning to slow down. Jenn really didn’t want to stop yet, even though it was only about an hour and a half till sunset. For one thing, they were on a narrow mountain trail with no place to stop for the night. Further she wasn’t sure what to do about camping. She really didn’t feel safe with the demon watching her while she slept. She’d be extremely vulnerable to his attack. However, Rupert really couldn’t go much further. “Rupert,” she called back to him.
“Yes?”
“You want to try riding again?”
“No Jenn. Nothing’s changed. If you want to continue, I can keep walking.” Even though Rupert sounded sure of it, Jenn didn’t believe it, he was slowing down, and looking exhausted. No wonder, he’d been through a big day and then a three hour march. She didn’t know how he was managing it. She knew they’d have to stop as soon as a suitable spot was found, unfortunately that didn’t look like it would be for a while. She just wanted to get to Freehold as fast as possible, and definitely didn’t want to camp with the demon. Not that she’d be able to avoid it. What with at least eight more days journey.
While Jenn’s attention was directed towards looking for a camping spot up ahead, Tom came down near Rupert and whispered in his ear.
“Rupert,” he said softly, trying not to attract too much of Jenn’s attention.
“What sir?”
“Would you like me to carry you?”
“I can manage,” Rupert said, although he seemed relieved at the offer.
“I’m sure you can, it’s just that it wouldn’t be any bother for me, and I think your friend wants to continue for some time. And when we do stop, I’m sure she’ll want you to take turns watching me, so I don’t kill you all. Therefore, I think it would be smart if you got some rest while you can.”
Rupert smiled at Tom’s little joke. At least someone wasn’t frightened of everything he did. “Well, O.K. I guess.” Rupert turned around to face Tom. Tom, hovering a foot off the ground, reached down and carefully picked the boy up.
“Put your arms around my neck, and rest your head on my shoulder. I think that will be most comfortable for you.” The boy did as he was instructed. Even though Rupert was good size for his age, he still was no larger than a toddler compared to Tom’s giant size.
Jenn turned when she noticed them stopping, and gasped as she saw what was happening. “What are you doing!” she screamed. “Goddess above, put that boy down you foul beast!” She stopped her horse and would have turned it around if she could.
“Relax! I’m not going to bite his head off. If I’d wanted to, I could have done it any time, and you wouldn’t have been able to do anything about it,” Tom said to her.
“I don’t care! I don’t trust you. If you so much as harm a hair on that boy...” Jenn threatened.
“You’ll what?” Tom asked tiredly. “The boy is tired, there’s no place to stop, we have to go on. I offered him a ride; he accepted. It’s the best solution. Further, I am sorry but there isn’t anything you can do about it. So live with it. You already have my word that I’ll protect the boy.”
“Jenn,” Rupert said with his back to Jenn, resting his head on Tom’s shoulder, “don’t worry. I trust him.”
Jenn glared at the demon, then at the boy’s back. She turned around angrily on her seat, but said nothing. Tom put his left arm across the back of Rupert’s thighs and his right hand rested on his back, to hold him like any small child.
Rupert did as he was told, resting his head outward on Tom’s shoulder, as the demon took off again. Rupert hadn’t wanted to tell anyone, but he was tired. He hadn’t thought he’d be able to take too many more steps before collapsing. Now, however, he could relax. Feeling the heavily muscled, scaly shoulder under his cheek, the rhythmic beating of the bat like wings, and the gentle claws on his back, Rupert felt that he could finally relax. Not completely, not yet, but more so then he had in a long time. For the first time that he could remember, in an incredibly long time, he felt completely safe and protected.
Chapter 30
The sun had set about a half hour ago, only the blue horizon to the west indicating that it wasn’t long down. They’d continued for about two hours after Tom had started carrying Rupert. Tom could make out Rupert’s deep breathing indicating that the boy was sound asleep. He flew as smoothly as he could so as not to wake him. Tom wasn’t sure why, but he really liked the little guy. He supposed it had something to do with the fact that he was the only human who didn’t treat him like the demon he was.
Jenn and he hadn’t spoken a word since he’d started carrying Rupert. He couldn’t figure her out. One moment scared witless and fainting, the next, openly hostile. He couldn’t decide if it was an Astlanian trait, a wizard’s trait, or just a female one. Whatever it was, she was definitely not the best company in the world.
As he was musing this, he was startled by the sun rising behind him. The entire valley was suddenly lit like a giant flashbulb went off. Thunder rolled across the sky above him, and the horses on the road seemed to shake. A hot, harsh wind buffeted him from behind. Smaller rocks and boulders slid down the mountainside. Frightened, the horses started neighing and dancing, Jenn was forced to stop them in an effort to calm them. Both looked behind them to where the intense golden light was fading slowly, a huge cloud, like a cupcake with a really big top on it, rising higher than the mountaintops behind them. It seemed oddly familiar to Tom.
“What the hell was that?” Tom asked.
“Lenamare, I think.”
“I knew he was pretty smart, but I never thought of him as being quite so bright,” Tom commented wryly. He caught a brief grin on her face, before she remembered who made the comment.
“It wasn’t him,” she replied coldly. “It was the surprise he’d left behind for Exador.”
“An explosion,” Tom guessed.
“Yes, some sort of device of his. One of his greatest achievements, he claims. It uses some strange, extremely rare unstable material. He focuses a beam of concentrated energy on it until the innermost structure of the stuff splits up into more stable materials. In the process it apparently releases great quantities of energy. He explained it to all the masters and students who could understand it the night before we left.
“Which is one reason he stayed behind. In addition to giving us a head start, he wanted everyone out of the way before activating it. Apparently, in addition to explosive damage it also has a built in area affect sickness spell.”
Tom thought for a moment, surprised, and then shocked. “Are you saying he used a nuclear weapon on his enemy?”
She looked at him puzzled. “If that’s what you call it. It figures that a fiend from the depths would know of such destructive things.”
Tom ignored that remark, this changed several things. He’d always thought of these people as backwards medievalists who also happened to have real witches. If these people could control nuclear devices, then in their own way they were as advanced as his own people. Somehow it seemed to make the whole thing seem much more real. “So let me see if I understand this,” Tom said to Jenn, since she seemed somewhat willing to talk. “Lenamare decided to pull out of his keep, where he was securely protected from his enemies. He sent all of his people out ahead to escape and then did a suicide destruction of his enemy.”