Chapter 4

 

 

Dom and Berrin stayed hidden in the bushes for some while before they ventured out. Berrin was worried that some of the boglins may have hung around to see if there were others they hadn’t captured. It was past noon before they returned to their camp.

 

Here they found their packs strewn around, two ripped open in a frenzy. Berrin didn’t doubt that the boglins had done so in search of the key. All their weapons had been broken or taken by the boglins. Nyssa’s bow had been snapped in half and Lore’s axe was nowhere to be seen.

 

But to their horror they found the grave of the stranger had been dug up and his body removed. Dom felt sick at such an act and wondered what the boglins could want with it.

 

‘What could they have wanted with his body?’ he asked as Berrin looked southwards where the tracks of the boglins and their strange beasts led away.

 

‘To take it back to his folks I would guess,’ she replied. ‘To show them that escape is doomed.’

 

‘That’s very nasty,’ Dom said angrily.

 

Berrin nodded sat down on the ground, her expression worried. Dom joined her.

 

‘We have a decision to make, Dom,’ she said. ‘Common sense says we should hurry home as quickly as we can and raise the alarm. Then Queen Kerin can gather a force together and go after our friends.’

 

She hesitated and Dom spoke up.

 

‘But you don’t think we should do that, do you?’ he said.

 

She shook her head.

 

‘I fear that by the time a rescue party is formed and gives chase, it will be too late for our friends,’ she said. ‘These boglins came all this way after the key the stranger was carrying. Their reaction when they found it shows it was very important to them. They will not be happy that one of us was carrying it.’

 

‘Do… do you think they will kill them?’ Dom asked, aghast at the thought.

 

Berrin nodded slowly.

 

‘I think they might, Dom. I know it’s horrible, but I think they might.’

 

Dom looked in the direction of the Dead Sands.

 

‘You think we should go after them?’ he asked. ‘Wouldn’t that be just a little crazy?’

 

‘It would indeed, Dom,’ Berrin replied. ‘But else can we do?’

 

They were silent, each thinking of what going after them would mean. Dom knew they had no chance of making it across the Dead Sands by themselves, but the thought of losing Jena and the others was horrible.

 

And then, quite suddenly, the decision was made for them.

 

A spluttering grunt sounded almost on top of them and both leapt to their feet, startled by the noise. Then one of the boglins carrying beasts pushed its way between some bushes and joined them in the camp.

 

‘Good gnomes! They’ve left one of their animals behind!’ Dom exclaimed.

 

Berrin grinned broadly.

 

‘This is just what we need, Dom,’ she pronounced. ‘We could use it to go after them!’

 

‘It looks injured,’ Dom said.

 

It did look injured, it’s right rear hoof lifted off the ground as if sore. Berrin ran a soothing hand down one of its shaggy flanks and the beast gave spluttering grunt of contentment.

 

‘Let’s have a look at you then fella,’ she said as she lifted its injured hoof to inspect it.

 

‘Has he cut himself?’ Dom asked in concern.

 

‘No… nothing that serious,’ Berrin replied. ‘He’s just got a stone caught in his hoof. I can get it out with my dagger.’

 

She slid it from her belt and with a few careful prods, flicked it free.

 

‘There… he’ll be right as rain now.’

 

It seemed she was as it put its foot down on the ground again and took a few tentative steps. Then it gave another contented spluttering grunt.

 

‘I think I’ll call him Splutter,’ Dom said. ‘He makes such a funny noise.’

 

Berrin laughed softly.

 

‘He does at that,’ she agreed, then knelt down by him. ‘So what do you think, Dom. Shall we go after our friends?’

 

Dom nodded without hesitation, eager to save them.

 

‘We’ll need food and water,’ he pointed out.

 

‘The water bottles are still at the spring,’ she replied. ‘You search for any food that hasn’t been spoiled by the boglins and I’ll get them.’

 

Dom did a search of the camp and found one pack that hadn’t been damaged. There was only a little of the flat bread in it, but he found some cheese and dates wrapped in their clothes bags lying on the ground nearby. He busied himself dragging the bags to the pack and pushing them inside.

 

By the time Berrin returned with the full water bottles the pack was ready to go.

 

‘We’ll wait for night,’ Dom,’ she said. ‘We don’t want to follow too closely in case we are seen.’

 

* * *

 

The sound of angry, yelping voices woke Jena. She felt awful, her head woozy from the blow she had received. It was near day’s end, the sun almost sunk below the horizon. She found herself tied bodily to the side of one of the shaggy-haired beasts. It didn’t smell all that nice, with an unwashed odour to it.

 

In the fading light she saw some of their attackers standing around a bound Nyssa, Lore and Nye. They were tied together by their hands with a length of rope attached to one of the beasts so it could pull them along.

 

She guessed their attackers were the boglins the stranger had been so fearful of. They weren’t much like goblins at all she saw. They were shorter and hunched, with long arms and short legs. Their skin was also a dark red rather than the goblins green.

 

One of them was speaking to Nye, the leader Jena thought.

 

‘Where you come from?’ he asked, holding a long bladed dagger and waving it at Nye in a threatening way.

 

‘We’re… we’re from the north of the desert,’ Nye replied with a croaky voice. ‘We’re desert elves.’

 

‘And these two and small one? They not desert folk. Where they come from?’

 

‘They are friends from far away… further north across the mountains,’ Nye replied.

 

‘Why you help Jothan… dead man?’ the boglin asked.

 

Nye shook his head.

 

‘We didn’t,’ he replied. ‘We found him in the oasis.’

 

‘I am Trall,’ he said. ‘You our prisoners for taking key from Jothan. Key ours… you pay for taking.’

 

‘We didn’t know it was yours,’ Nyssa said in a pleading tone. ‘We only found it on Jothan.’

 

‘Not matter,’ Trall snarled. ‘Rakos will decide whether you live or die!’

 

Jena was filled with despair and a little confusion. They were to be taken to Rakos for punishment, yet the stranger, Jothan, had said they were to fear the Tomb of Racos. Was he dead or alive, she wondered?

 

But her greatest dismay was finding that her bracelet had been taken from her. It was missing from her wrist and she knew that without it there was little hope of escaping. She watched Trall wave his dagger back the way they had come across the Dead Sands.

 

‘No-one follow you! No hope! ’ he sneered and he whacked one of the shaggy beasts on its rump. ‘Without Thads, no-one cross after you.’

 

Jena’s heart sank even further, fearful of what lay in store for them. At least Dom and Berrin will be spared their fate she thought. She had noticed they were not with their group and hoped they were all right.

 

Was there a chance they could somehow rescue them, she wondered? Hopefully they would dash back to Queen Kerin and raise the alarm. But even if they did, if the Dead Sands couldn’t be crossed without the Thads, what hope was there?

 

She felt dizzy again, her head smarting. She was passing out again, but before she did she fervently hoped that Dom and Berrin wouldn’t be silly enough to come after them.