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WARóóPART ONEóóChot stumbles to an elf who asks him what happened to Kahvi and Yun.
Chot tells everyone that everything went fine until they took the great palace. It
seemed to affect Kahvi in some strange way. She fell off her hawk. Chot claims he
was able to rescue the palace. Chief Zey murmurs, "Uhóhuh." He tells them
the filthy Preserves attacked him and covered him in their vile web. Tyldak called
his hawk home and Chot was left alone. Kahvi died for it, he says, the relic was
worth fighting for and dying for. To go they will have to cross frozen wastes and
mountains as well as a desert. Arri tells them that Rayek told tales of a tunnel
that leads under the mountains, the Tunnel of Golden Light. Zey will be the most
powerful chief when they get the little palace. Three Eights of a Day Later: Dart
(wild thick brownóorange hair, green collar with yellow rectangles on it and green
long loin cloth as well as green head band) and Shushen (jet black hair, brown eyes,
purple collar and head band, purple loin cloth but shorter than Dart's) watch Windkin
(who has long curly golden brown hair, brown eyes and brownish tanned skin as well
as blue upper arm bands, a short cut tank top for his upper body, bare stomach and
blue almost knee high leg coverings which have the toes sticking out the hole at
the foot). Windkin flies and feels the air is drier than he's ever seen and the air
is thicker every day. They are near a volcano. The ash has settled right to the horizon.
Female blond Yun (with blue eyes) in gray and yellow top, tunic, and yellow pants
with brown boots and gray trim is with a nearly bare loin cloth wearing blueóblack
haired boy (named Kimo) whose loin cloth just about covers his private area but not
his hips. He also has on blue leg coverings. Kimo and Dart break up a near fight
between Yun and Shushen (who has a long pony tail tied in back with a band). Yun
is a GoóBack whose leader was Kahvi but apparently is now Zey but she and some other
Go Backs may be in the Sun Village as part of a truce or something. Dart puts an
arm around Shushen's left shoulder and Shushen touches it with his opposite hand.
He doesn't want to leave this area. He's lived in it for a long time...his entire
life. Zey leads his elves down through the Troll Tunnels which smell. There is a
waterfall and two trolls sitting and playing with stones like a card game. Zey says,
"First we kill, then we drink!" One shoots an arrow at the first troll
and the others rush the other one. The troll calls them "poking yellow snow
eaters!" One elf shoves a sword into the troll's lower chest near his heart
and up, "Then have a poke, cave lurker!" They kill the troll, three elves
on top of it. They have fresh meat and the water. Zey's sword is covered in blood
as the elves celebrate and fill their water skins with water. There seem to be about
eight of them but maybe more (there are more, we find out on the last pageóóabout
16 or so are seenóóbut there may be even more). Ahdri, a brown female with rock shaping
powers worries that their water well is empty of water. Scouter, a shirtless elf
with reddish brown hair and a jewelof red about his neck on a yellow necklace has
long brown tights on. He is with Ahdri and Mender. Mender has curly long blond hair,
a jewel of green on a yellow necklace, blue eyes, green ankle covers and green loin
cloth held by yellow belt. He also has on arm bands (yellow with green jewels in
them) on his upper arms. The mountain is sucking the land into itself and will erupt
and destroy Sun Village. Windkin comes flying as the volcano rumbles. Dart asks,
"Timmorn's blood! What is it?" The ground shakes. Flaming rocks come from
the blast from the top of the volcano. Some are hit. Windkin is crying and coughing.
Savah, tall female elf, tells little blond female Newstar that the mother is preparing
to cast her children from the nest. Scout tells Dart and Shushen that the Zwoots
could stampede like the last time the smoking mountain shook. Dart and Shushen, Jackwolf
Riders, will deal with the Zwoots while Scout goes to the bridge to see if he can
see the stampede. Yun cuts Kahvi out of her web cocoon where she slept with a bat
like elf being with fur around his body sides, leaving the belly and chest bare.
Kahvi asks for Yun's knife and figures this is the best time to get what she came
for. The others exit from the Tunnel of Golden Light and find the sky turning black,
blocking the sun's heat. It is an omen of their good luck, Zey figures. He will lead
his GoóBacks to snuff out the sun folk and take their due. |