Chapter 3

 

 

It was a saddened party that sat about their camp fire as the sun began to creep above the horizon. Nyssa and Lore had built it up again to ward off the chill of the morning. Berrin and Nye had just returned from a quick search of the oasis to see if there was anyone else around. They had found no-one and they were now all discussing what the arrival of the stranger meant.

 

The desert elves knew only a little about Eldor, so Nyssa and Lore told them a little about his history and his folk. As far as anyone knew they said none except Eldor and Mogrom had survived the magic of the Shiver near five hundred years ago. Did the arrival of the stranger mean that his ancestors were somehow survivors?

 

Nyssa thought they might be.

 

‘I think that some of Eldor’s folk must have left Kreth before the Shiver’s magic was unleashed,’ she said. ‘They too knew as Eldor did what was going to happen and fled seeking safety.’

 

‘I think you’re right,’ Lore agreed. ‘There’s no other explanation I think of.’

 

‘Were there other cities besides Kreth where people may have survived?’ Berrin asked.

 

‘Well, Eldor has never talked about his folk that much, even after the Shiver was destroyed,’ Lore said. ‘The only other city we know of is the one in the Barren Hills.’

 

‘Does that mean they came this way… through the desert?’ Dom asked.

 

Berrin shook her head.

 

‘My folk would have seen them if they had tried,’ she replied. ‘No, they must have come by a different way.’

 

‘Eldor says there is a vast ocean beyond the city of Kreth,’ Jena said. ‘They might have used boats.’

 

Berrin nodded in agreement.

 

‘At the western edge of the Scorched Mountains you can see the ocean that stretches as far as the eye can see,’ she said. ‘If these… jungles the man spoke of lie to the south that could be possible.’

 

‘What exactly is a jungle?’ Jena asked.

 

But the word was unfamiliar to any of them and none could guess what it was. Dom thought it a funny name, but a little creepy as well. Whatever it was, he thought it would come with dangers.

 

‘Whatever it is, the poor man has crossed the Dead Sands to escape it,’ Berrin said. ‘And these boglins he warned us of don’t sound pleasant.’

 

‘Do you think they might be like goblins, Nyssa?’ Jena asked.

 

‘Perhaps,’ Nyssa said. ‘The name is certainly similar.’

 

‘I’d rather not find out,’ Nye said. ‘We should hurry back to my mother and tell her what we have found. She will know what to do.’

 

‘And Eldor must be told too,’ Lore added.

 

‘Then let us bury the poor man and prepare to leave,’ Berrin said. ‘We can leave this afternoon and walk on though the night to the first oasis north.’

 

But on preparing to bury the stranger, they discovered something on his body. They hadn’t seen it in the night’s darkness, but around his neck on a cord was a curious metal key. It was a large gold one and was about six inches long.

 

Nyssa slipped it off his head and held it up.

 

‘A key to somewhere or something,’ she said.

 

‘I wonder if it’s to this Tomb of Racos?’ Lore pondered. ‘We use similar keys to open the doors of my citadel tombs.’

 

‘If he has the key, do you think it's now locked?’ Nye asked.

 

Lore nodded.

 

‘Probably… and maybe with reason,’ he replied.

 

‘The stranger said… “beware the Tomb of Racos”,’ Berrin said. ‘If he stole it then these boglins might be coming after it.’

 

‘Another mystery to solve… but not by us,’ Nyssa said firmly. ‘Let’s bury the poor man and get out of here.’

 

It was a solemn thing in digging the grave, laying the stranger in it and then covering him up. Jena hadn’t seen many dead people before, only her grandparents after they had died at quite an old age.

 

This man had been fairly young, about the same age as her parents she thought. He must have suffered terribly in reaching here and then to die was very sad.

 

* * *

 

They prepared to leave the oasis with Lore, Nyssa and Nye packing up their gear. Berrin picked up their four water bottles by their straps, intending to go and fill them at the spring. Dom asked whether he could come along and the desert elf nodded with a smile. She picked him and setting him on her shoulder, headed off.

 

Jena and the others finished packing up and were waiting for Berrin and Dom to return. Jena was enjoying a little shade under a palm tree, knowing that a hot march was ahead of them. A glint of gold suddenly caught her attention on her wrist and she looked down to see her bracelet suddenly glowing.

 

She was so surprised to see it she didn’t react in time to save them. Dozens of rust coloured creatures suddenly charged out of the surrounding bushes and overpowered the others. Then she was suddenly flicked on the back of the head by something and knocked out.

 

Berrin and Dom meanwhile were filling the water bottles when they heard the commotion from the camp.

 

‘What’s that?’ Dom asked in alarm.

 

Berrin threw the bottles into some bushes and picking him up, dove in after them.

 

‘Stay here, Dom!’ she ordered curtly. ‘I’ll have a look at what’s going on.’

 

Dom nodded and watched her crawl away, fearful for Jena and the others. He fingered the tiny dagger at his belt, a weapon Lore had given him for his last birthday. It wasn’t much when you’re the size of a gnome he thought, but at least it something. He could always stab one of the creatures in the foot!

 

* * *

 

Berrin meanwhile crawled through the bushes till she came to the edge of the water pool. To her right she could see the camp bristling with strange looking creatures. They were a dark red in colour, almost burnt looking. They were hunched over slightly and had long arms and short, stumpy legs.

 

Then something very much bigger lumbered into view and her eyes grew wide. It was a most strange looking animal. It was like cow, only bigger and was covered with a yellow, coarse looking hair. It had four short, but powerful looking legs and a huge barrel chest.

 

On its back were leather sacks and she figured the attacking creatures must use it to carry things. Another one stomped into view, then a third, driven forward by more of the creatures cracking whips at them. A bellow of anger escaped one of them, but that only produced more cracks.

 

Then one of the creatures lifted something up in the air.

 

‘Racos!’ it shouted in its yelping way and all the creatures suddenly bowed down around it.

 

Berrin could see it had the gold key they had found on the stranger. Then she heard movement nearby and scuttled back into the cover of the bushes. More of the creatures were searching the oasis and she could only hope that Dom stayed hidden.

 

Dom himself had heard the searchers as well and had actually crawled into the thorny protection of spine cactus. One of the creatures went right past it and he thanked the stars he had thought to move.

 

He heard them searching around the spring and then move away. Time ticked by, maybe a good half hour and he was terribly afraid that Berrin had been caught. If she had been he was in real trouble as there was no chance he could trek out of the oasis by himself.

 

Then he heard movement approaching and a lump of terror filled his throat.

 

‘Dom!’ whispered Berrin’s voice and he gave a sigh of relief.

 

‘Here, Berrin!’ he called in a low voice and squeezed himself out of the cactus.

 

The desert elf crawled into view and Dom ran up to her.

 

‘I thought you have been captured!’ he blurted.

 

‘I think we were both almost found,’ she said, putting a comforting hand on him. ‘I had to stay where I was till they moved off again.’

 

‘What… or who are they?’ he asked.

 

‘I would guess they are the boglin creatures the stranger was so fearful of,’ she replied. ‘They’ve captured and taken the others away!’

 

‘Good gnomes!’ Dom exclaimed. ‘What shall we do?’

 

Berrin chewed at her lower lip worriedly.

 

‘I don’t know, Dom,’ she said. ‘But I fear for them terribly.’