It was very strange, those brief few airborne moments. Gunthar had flown dragonback during the War of the Lance, but even riding a dragon wasn't that much different than riding a horse-if you didn't look down. But this was different. For one thing, he had a gully dwarf crawling over his shoulder. Secondly, he no longer claimed a saddle between his legs, even though his legs retained the saddle shape in mid-air. Thirdly, the moment he realized he was airborne, he could only think of how he might land.
But the flight lasted a few heartbeats at most, hardly enough time to think of a landing. As the ground rushed up at him, Gunthar realized he still had hold of his spear, so he threw it away to keep from landing on it. Uhoh continued to claw and scratch until he was on top of Gunthar's chest. The old man landed flat on his back, and small as the gully dwarf was, Uhoh's weight crushed the air from Gunthar's lungs.
Uhoh screamed. Even after they hit the ground, and even after they'd been on the ground for a while, he continued to scream. He screamed until Gunthar summoned enough strength to push him from his chest, where Uhoh still clung in terror. Slowly, Gunthar sat up, feeling twinges race up and down his spine.
"I'm going to pay for that in the morning," he moaned.
"Very bad mischief," Uhoh whimpered.
"Very bad indeed. Why did you have to land on poor old Papa?" Gunthar asked.
"Uhoh on bottom, very bad," he answered. "Papa two times as big as Uhoh."
"I feel like I've just lost a dragon joust," Gunthar said. He looked around, wincing at the pain of turning his head. "Now where did that crazy horse get to? I thought surely he'd stop when he felt us fall. It isn't like him to rim away."
"Horse go that way," Uhoh said, pointing to where the path ended under the shimmering arch.
Gunthar rose painfully to his feet, assisted with a feeble shove from behind by the gully dwarf. "I'm not as young as once I was," he said. "Do you know how old I am, my boy?"
"Two and two and two?"
"That's right. Two and two and two, and many more two." He put his fists in the small of his back and straightened up, groaning.
"That many," Uhoh said with awe. "You older than Great Highbulp."
"I am older than these very hills. When I was born, this place was flat. No trees, no mountains. Just me. The hills came later," Gunthar moaned as he finally reached his full height.
"Come. We go now," Uhoh said.
"No, no. That's the wrong way," Gunthar said as Uhoh retreated up the path.
"This way to castle," Uhoh said, pointing hopefully.
"But we have to find Traveler, my boy. We have to finish the hunt. A true Knight never breaks off contact with the enemy so easily," Gunthar said.
Reluctantly, kicking leaves and angrily swinging his arms, Uhoh returned to Gunthar's side.
"That's better. Chin up, my boy. You are already on your way to becoming a true Knight. Let's see where this path leads," Gunthar said.
"Probably very bad place," Uhoh mumbled as he stumbled behind his master.
They followed the unfamiliar trail for another hundred yards or so, before it finally opened into a large glade filled with golden light. Gunthar squinted in the brightness, but the hazy air prevented him from judging the position of the sun, and thus the time of day. The air hummed with unseen wings. As Gunthar and Uhoh entered the glade, their feet kicked up swarms of grasshoppers and tiny lace-winged midges. The grass was tall and golden-green, as were the leaves of the strange bushes growing in natural hedges along the banks of a silver stream; their leaves were golden on one side, forestgreen on the other, and they bore berries of silver and red. The air was warm and humid, more like a summer's day in Palanthas than an autumn morning on the Isle of Sancrist.
"This is altogether uncanny," Gunthar said. "I've lived here all my life, but I've never seen this place before. Or have I?" He stroked his mustaches and looked around. Something seemed very familiar about this place.
"That a long time," Uhoh said as he scratched his ratskin cap.
"I can't seem to focus my eyes in this light," Gunthar commented.
Uhoh squinted and peered, but being a gully dwarf, he relied more on his sense of smell. "Smells like faeries," he said.
"It does look rather elvish, doesn't it," Gunthar said. "Is that a whortleberry patch I see?"
"Definitely fairies," Uhoh said, sniffing again. "Lots of faeries. Two and two and two."
"It certainly seems peaceful. I can't remember being more at peace. This is very strange. I feel so sleepy," Gunthar said with a gaping yawn.
"Fairies very bad. We go now. Back to castle," Uhoh said as he tugged at his master's hand.
Gunthar leaned against his spear. "How did I get here?" he mumbled. "I was looking for something. What was it?"
"Nothing. Come go," Uhoh said insistently.
"My Measure!" Gunthar exclaimed. "Where did I put it?" He patted the pouches at his belt, then stared down at Uhoh. "Tasslehoff Burrfoot, did you take my Measure?"
"What? No! Me not know," Uhoh said, his voice trembling with fear.
"Tell Lord Derek this is no time for political squabbles. We need every able-bodied Knight for the defense of Palanthas!" Gunthar shouted. He spun on his heel and stalked deeper into the glade. Uhoh followed him at a distance.
As he neared the stream, Gunthar froze in mid-stride. Suddenly, the glade was still, silent. A cloud moved in front of the sun, darkening the air. Gunthar blinked, then stepped back in confusion. He raised his spear in defense, threatening the empty air.
And then he saw it-a great shaggy shape under the eaves of the forest on the opposite side of the glade. It looked like a piece of a mountain come to life and descended from the highlands. Its back rose in a spiked hump fully as high as a grown man's head, while its head was as big around as a pickle barrel. It stared at Gunthar and seemed to yawn, baring its long, glistening ivory tusks, self-whetting weapons as sharp as the blade of an elven dagger. Its piggy red eyes seemed almost to glow in the shadow of its tremendous bulk. When still, it looked as inanimate as stone-when moving, as unstoppable as an avalanche. The tall grass, and even small trees and bushes, bent before its onrushing mass. Quickly, almost before thoughts of danger could form in Gunthar's charmbefuddled mind, the boar crossed the glade and vanished into the gloom of the forest.
Gunthar took another startled step back, almost dropping his spear as he stumbled into Uhoh. Slowly, the normal sounds of the magical summer glade returned.
"Papa go," Uhoh whispered, but Gunthar didn't answer.
Instead, he watched another shaggy shape appear from the forest, almost at the same spot where he'd seen the first one. This one was smaller and ran with its nose to the ground. For a moment, Gunthar was confused, but then the shape lifted its head and bayed long and mournfully.
"Garr!" Uhoh shouted.
The great hound tucked back his ears and dashed across the meadow, hot on the trail of the boar. "He's got the scent," Gunthar said. "By the gods, he's got him now! Come on, my boy, follow me!"
Gunthar seemed to draw youth and vigor from the excitement of the hunt. Once his quarry was spotted and his hound bayed the scent, he seemed to forget his aches and pains. Gunthar loped across the meadow and splashed through the stream, the weight of his armor seeming hardly any encumbrance at all. He felt almost as though he were flying with winged feet, as if he might leave the ground and take to the upper winds. The heavy boar spear, with its crossbar of iron just below the steel head, plowed a wake through the grass before him.
10
"There, there, my boy," Gunthar said with a sigh, trying to comfort the gully dwarf. "There, there."