They sat around a plank table in the castle’s kitchen. A fire blazed in the hearth, fish jumped in the stream flowing through the room, and Dar had placed mugs of hot mallow on a tray with plenty of daggarts.
He leaned back in his chair, pulled out his harmonica, and provided restful music for their digestion.
“You’ve done well,” said Paladin as he looked around the company of his servants. Candlelight highlighted the reddish tints in his dark brown hair. His smile eased the hardness of his strong features. Kale felt the friendly warmth of his gaze and knew this important man actually liked her.
He set his mug down on the table and addressed those relaxing around the room. “What do you wish to do now that the threat to Amara has been crushed?”
“I want to go home,” said Librettowit. “The shelves will need dusting. And the books I bought in Prushing will have arrived by now.”
Paladin nodded. “Wizard Fenworth, Librettowit, Kale, her dragons, Taylaminkadot, Toopka, and Regidor shall go back to Bedderman’s Bog.”
He smiled at Kale. “I’ve seen that Bardon has shown you how to defend yourself. I suspect you both learned from Regidor as well. You must concentrate on your skills as a wizard now.”
Wizard Fenworth twitched, sending a scurry of beetles out of one sleeve. “I’m retired, you know.”
“Yes, I had heard that. Who will teach wizardry skills to Kale and Regidor?”
Cam raised a finger. “I’m not overly occupied at present.”
Paladin winked at the wizard. “Do you wish to stay in your castle or at Fenworth’s?”
“Here now!” exclaimed Fen. “Pesky cousin. A distant cousin. Ninth cousin, twenty-two times removed, at least. He hasn’t been invited.”
“Yes,” said Paladin in a reasonable tone, “but if he were there to handle the small things that come up, you could enjoy your retirement more fully.”
Fenworth harrumphed but did not voice any further objections.
Cam smiled at his cousin. “I’ll spend some time with Fenworth in The Bogs. I’m sure he’d miss the hubbub if he found himself alone with only Librettowit and Thorpendipity. But I will take the students on field trips. Nothing like on-the-spot instruction.”
Paladin nodded and raised an eyebrow in Regidor’s direction. “I haven’t forgotten Gilda.”
Regidor’s hand dropped to cover a spot on the side of his robe. “She’s safe.”
Paladin’s eyebrow rose a notch. “Do you mean she’s safe to be around, or she’s safe from harm in your pocket?”
Regidor’s thin lips puckered. He looked Paladin in the eye. “I would like to be responsible for her. She bonded to Risto, and now Risto is dead. I feel I can help her.”
“So be it,” Paladin said and turned to address Kale’s mother. “Lady Allerion?”
“I should like to travel. I didn’t really enjoy being restricted to that dungeon. And I might just uncover a way to free Kemry.” She laid a hand on Fenworth’s arm. “I do hope you will allow me to visit often, Fen. I would like to get to know my daughter.”
Fenworth arched an eyebrow at her but did not answer.
“Thank you.” Lyll leaned forward and kissed the old man’s brow as if he had graciously invited her to come at any time.
“Harrumph! Seems I neglected that lesson for you as well. Your daughter hugs me. You kiss me. Not at all the thing. Wizards must be held in great respect. Unapproachable. Awe-inspiring.”
A mouse slid out from under his hat and scrambled down his sleeve, across his lap, and down to the floor.
“Nothing,” said Fenworth, “should detract from a wizard’s dignity.”
Paladin stroked his chin with his long fingers as he nodded solemnly. “I couldn’t agree more, Wizard Fenworth.”
He turned to the warriors. “Lee Ark and Lord Brunstetter, where do you wish to go?”
“Home,” they said in unison.
“So be it.” Paladin’s eyes held sympathy. “Dar?”
The doneel took the harmonica from his mouth long enough to answer. “Home, Wittoom.”
“And Bardon?”
Kale held her breath and looked down at the daggart in her hand. Where could Bardon go? He didn’t answer, and she peeked across the table in time to see him shrug.
Paladin drummed his fingers on the table for a moment before he spoke. “I think you’ve learned what Grand Ebeck wanted you to know when he sent you from The Hall. Are you ready to begin training as a knight?”
Bardon jerked up straight in his chair. “Yes sir.” He bit his lips and blinked. Kale saw his hand move as if to reach up and pull the locks covering his ears, but he stilled the movement.
Was he supposed to learn something about his mother and father as I have? Was he supposed to learn to accept his roots? Because if he was, I don’t think he did!
Bardon sat a little straighter. Kale watched the familiar resolve sharpen the contours of his jaw.
“Sir, I don’t know what it was that Grand Ebeck expected me to learn.”
Paladin smiled the slow, relaxed smile that somehow made Kale trust him and his wisdom. “I’m not surprised. Often the lessons in life that are the most meaningful are the hardest for us to sort out. Wulder blessed you with a great potential. He used your parents to gift you with unique traits. Grand Ebeck saw those inherent talents bound by your rigid adherence to rules. He threw you out of the austere environment of The Hall so that you would have a chance to become more flexible.”
Paladin swung his arm around, his sweeping gesture indicating the members of the quest sitting around the stone kitchen. “In the company of this motley crew, how could you help but unbend a little?”
Kale grinned as Librettowit and Fenworth harrumphed, Dar and Cam chortled, and Toopka laughed out loud.
Bardon’s lips spread into a smile, and his body relaxed. “So I was to learn to be more yielding before I entered a discipline that is unyielding?”
Paladin clapped him on the shoulder. “Precisely! You must learn to be malleable before you’re formed into an instrument of justice. Otherwise you wield a sword with no mercy, no discernment.”
Bardon nodded thoughtfully, then glanced at Kale and winked.
You have changed, Bardon!
“And I intend to change even more. In three years I will be a knight, Kale. And if our paths do not cross again until then, I promise I will seek you out so you can marvel at the Snitch.”
Kale gasped, and then smiled. He knew the name they had all called him back at The Hall.
Paladin nodded as if he understood their exchange. “You will need something I believe our venerable Wizard Fenworth has been keeping for you.” He stretched out his open palm to the old man as if he expected Fen to hand over the object.
“Oh dear, tut-tut. Where did I put that? Tut-tut, oh dear.” The wizard sat up straight and began patting his beard and robes. Tiny creatures skittered in all directions. The minor dragons jumped on the scampering feast of bugs, ignoring lizards, birds, and rodents as they escaped.
Wizard Fenworth’s hand dug into a fold of his robe. “Aha!” He pulled out a closed fist, turned it over, and slowly uncurled his fingers. A tiny sword lay across his palm.
Bardon stood, and so did Amara’s leader.
Paladin picked it up between his thumb and forefinger.
“Fen, you constantly amaze me. I believe this would be more useful to our future knight in different proportions.”
The sword shimmered and grew at a steady, unhurried rate until the hilt became a size Paladin could wrap his hand around. The silent audience watched the shining blade stretch out to a gleaming point.
Paladin swished the sword through the air, testing its balance. “A finely crafted weapon.” He deftly reversed the blade and offered it to Bardon. The young man took it without a word.
Kale thought she would burst with pride for her friend. She started to enter his thoughts and congratulate him, but the look on his face stopped her. This moment was too important to Bard
on for her to intrude upon.
Paladin laid his hand on the stunned lehman’s shoulder. “You shall go with Dar to Wittoom. Sir Dar will train you.”
Kale’s mouth dropped open, and her head whipped around to find the doneel relaxing in a chair with his legs draped over the arms. She slammed her fists against her hips. “You really are a knight?”
Dar ran his mouth over the harmonica, making a loud scale of notes trill through the cavernous kitchen.
He winked at her and grinned, his face splitting almost in two. “Yes, dear Kale, but only a very little one.”
GLOSSARY
Amara (ä´-mä-rä)
Continent surrounded by ocean on three sides.
armagot (är´-muh-got)
National tree, purple blue leaves in the fall.
ballyhoo bird (bl´-le-hōō)
An insect-eating bird with dappled brown feathers. It is rarely seen, but its distinctive ballyhoo call is frequently heard in all types of woodland.
beater frog (b´-ter frôg)
Tailless, semiaquatic amphibian having a smooth, moist skin, webbed feet, and long hind legs. Shades of green; no bigger than a child’s fist; capable of making loud, resounding boom.
benders
A game played with a deck of cards.
bentleaf tree
Deciduous tree having long, slender, drooping branches and narrow leaves.
bisonbecks (b-sen-beks)
Most intelligent of the seven low races. They comprise most of Risto’s army.
blattig fish (blat´-tig)
Freshwater fish often growing to a length of two to three feet, voraciously carnivorous, known to attack and devour living animals.
blimmets (blim´-mets)
One of the seven low races, burrowing creatures that swarm out of the ground for periodic feeding frenzies.
bodoggin (bō´-dg-n)
A breed of short-haired dog with a large head, short bowed legs, stocky body. Strong jaws with dewlaps, useful on farms for curtailing vermin.
Bogs, The
Made up of four swamplands with indistinct borders; located in southwest Amara.
borling treee (bôr´-ling)
Having dark brown wood and a deeply furrowed nut enclosed in a globose, aromatic husk.
bornut (bôr´-nt)
Nut from borling tree.
brillum (bril´-lum)
A brewed ale that none of the seven high races will consume. Smells like skunkwater, stains like black bornut juice. Mariones use it to spray around their fields to keep insects from infesting their crops.
broer (brôr)
A substance secreted by female dragons through glands in the mouth. Used for nest building, it hardens into a rocklike substance resembling gray meringue.
chukkajoop (chuk´-kuh-joop)
A favorite o’rant stew made from beets, onions, and carrots.
cygnot tree (si´-not)
A tropical tree growing in extremely wet ground or shallow water. The branches come out of the trunk like spokes from a wheel hub and often interlace with neighboring trees.
deckit powder
Yellow crystalline compound used for explosives.
doneel (dō´-nl)
One of the seven high races. These people are furry with bulging eyes, thin black lips, and ears at the top and front of their skulls. A flap of skin covers the ears and twitches in response to the doneel’s mood. They are small in stature, rarely over three feet tall. Generally musical and given to wearing flamboyant clothing.
Dormanscz Range (dôr-manz´)
Volcanic mountain range in southeast Amara.
druddums (drud´-dums)
Weasel-like animal that lives deep in mountains. These creatures are thieves and will steal anything to horde. Of course they like to get food, but they are also attracted to bright things and things that have an unusual texture.
drummerbug
Small brown beetle that makes a loud snapping sound with its wings when not in flight.
eberbark tea (b´-er-bark)
Tea made of dried root bark from the eberbark tree, a deciduous having irregularly lobed leaves and aromatic bark, leaves, and branches. Contains a volatile oil used as flavoring and for medicinal purposes.
emerlindians (´-mer-lin´-d -ins)
One of the seven high races, emerlindians are born pale with white hair and pale gray eyes. As they age, they darken. One group of emerlindians is slight in stature, the tallest being five feet. Another distinct group is between six and six and a half feet tall.
ernst
An evergreen shrub, flowering in late fall. The tiny, starlike, pale yellow flowers give off a fragrance similar to cinnamon.
ersatz (er-zäts´)
Imitation, substitute, artificial, and inferior to the real thing.
Fairren Forest (fair´-ren)
A massive forest of mostly deciduous trees in southwest Amara.
fire dragons
Emerged from the volcanoes in ancient days; these dragons breathe fire and are most likely to serve evil forces.
fortaleen (for´-tuh-leen)
Bush with two-inch long thorns.
gaperlot (gā-per-lot)
One who stares rudely.
glean band (gleen)
A bracelet delicately woven by kimens out of vines from the glean plant. It wards off wasps and other stinging insects, as well as poisonous reptiles.
glommytucks (glm´-me-tks)
Large aquatic birds with a long slender neck and shorter, rounder bills than ducks. Lay large clutches of eggs and are wonderful birds for roasting.
grand emerlindian
Grands are close to a thousand years old and are black.
grannny emerlindian
Grannies are both male and female, said to be five hundred years old or older, and have darkened to a brown complexion with dark brown hair and eyes.
grawligs (graw´-ligs)
One of seven low races, mountain ogres.
greater dragon
Largest of the dragons, able to carry many men or cargo.
gum tree
Tree with sticky leaves and yellow, rayed flower heads, the center of which may be plucked and chewed.
hadwig (ad´-wig)
A sling-type weapon with a spiked ball at the end.
halfnack bird
Brightly colored, medium-sized bird.
heirnot tree (âr´-nt)
Slender, white-barked, pole-like trunks with light green, round leaves attached by a flattened stem, which causes them to rustle in the slightest breeze. People often say the trees whisper or chatter.
jimmin (jm-mn)
Any young animal used for meat. We would say veal, lamb, or spring chicken.
kimens (km´-ens)
The smallest of the seven high races; elusive, tiny, and fast; under two feet tall.
lightrocks
Any of the quartzlike rocks giving off a glow.
major dragon
Elephant-sized dragon most often used for personal transportation.
marioness (mer´--owns)
One of the seven high races. Mariones are excellent farmers and warriors. They are short and broad, usually musclebound rather than corpulent.
meech dragon
The most intelligent of the dragons, capable of speech.
minor dragon
Smallest of the dragons—the size of a kitten. The different types of minor dragons have different abilities.
moerston bark (môr´-stun)
When chewed, it soothes hunger and freshens the mouth; bumpy, brown and thin.
moonbeam plant
A three-to four-foot plant having large shiny leaves and round flowers resembling a full moon. The stems are fibrous and used for making cloth.
Morchainn Range
Mountains running north and south through the middle of Amara.
mordakleeps
One of the low races, a shadowy creature with a long tail.
mordat (mōr-dăt)
A tree that produces sap, out of which a sweet syrup is made.
mullins (ml´-lns)
Fried doughnut sticks.
mumfers (mm´-fers)
A plant cultivated as ornamentals for their showy flower heads of profuse petals and brilliant colors.
ninny-nap-conder (nn´--năp-cn-der)
A type of con artist who uses the appearance of naiveté to dupe his victims.
nordy rolls
Whole-grain, sweet, nutty bread.
o’rants
One of the high races. Five to six feet tall.
parnot (pâr´-nt)
Green fruit like a pear.
pnard potatoes (puh-nard´)
Starchy, edible tuber with pale pink flesh.
Pomandando River (pó-man-dan´-do)
River running along the eastern side of Vendela.
quiss (kwuh´-iss)
One of the seven low races. These creatures have an enormous appetite. Every three years they develop the capacity to breathe air for six weeks and forage along the sea coast, creating havoc. They are extremely slippery.
razterberry (ras´-ter-bâr-ee)
Small red berries that grow in clusters somewhat like grapes on the sides of mountains. The vines are useful for climbing.
River Away
Marione village in eastern Amara.
rock pine
Evergreen tree with prickly cones that are as heavy as stones.
rootup tree
Appears to be upside down. A dense bush surrounds the base. In the center, leafless branches intertwine tightly. From a distance, they appear to be a solid trunk. At the top, these limbs spread apart, looking just like a root system.
ropmas (rōp´-muhs)
One of the seven low races. These half men, half animals are useful in herding and caring for beasts.
scarphlit (scar´-flit)
An oily substance used in medicinal potions.
schoergs (skôrgz)
One of seven low races, much like grawligs; shorter, less playful.
Sheridan
A household servant, armed and designated protector of the family and property.
Torsk Tower
One of three towers at The Hall. Four clocks adorn the top. It is rumored that a gateway through time exists in the tower.
trang-a-nog tree (trăng´--ng)
Smooth, olive green bark.
Trell Tower
One of three towers at The Hall. This one houses gateways.