Healer's Ruin by Chris O'Mara Read Free Book Online

ground and the prevalence of knuckle-like protuberances of ancient root that threatened to catch even the deft hooves of the shadamar, he thought about the injured mounts. Could he have healed them? Most probably. But the question was moot; Jolm had ordered the beasts to be put out of their misery. At least the force would dine on excellent viands at the next camp.
    After an hour or so of slow progress a rider came from the vanguard. He saluted Jolm and spoke to him in the Krune tongue. The lieutenant nodded and sent the man back to the front before turning to Chalos.
    'You will come with me,' he said.
    'Where are we going?'
    'To see how useful you really are.'
    Samine blinked and glanced at Chalos, concern on her face, spiced with a noticeable amount of envy.
    'I'll be alright,' he said with a weak smile, although he had no idea what was in store for him. Mysa, fixed to his shoulder with a rigorous grip, ruffled her feathers as if composing herself.
    The two men rode out from the central mass of the force then up the right hand side, past the bulk of the Black Talons. They found the vanguard, who rode in a vaguely coherent wave that spread surprisingly far ahead of their comrades. Chalos saw their armour glinting darkly in the midst of the gargantuan trees.
    'This way,' Jolm grunted.
    They took their own path up an incline. Looking down over the edge, Chalos saw a fecund dell of flowers and mushrooms and spotted with displeasure a series of luminous green serpents cavorting between fat orange stalks. Swallowing his anxiety he spurred the shadamar on and soon they were on a high crag of moss-covered rock that curled halfway around a tree so wide it was like the tower of a great castle. It occurred to Chalos that such a formation of rock was unnatural but in a place as bizarre as this, it seemed absurd to worry about such things.
    Jolm had stopped. Chalos stopped beside him. They stood there for a moment without speaking.
    'What are we doing here?' the healer asked, breaking the uncomfortable silence.
    The lieutenant growled beneath his breath as his head roved left and right. He was surveying the territory and did not like what he saw. Chalos detected uncertainty in the warrior.
    He's seeing this terrain for the first time. Expecting a mere forest, he now sees the truth of this place. A Land of Wood. A kingdom, perhaps, in itself... and one ruled by the Riln in part only. Who knows what else lives here? What shaped these trees and rocks?
    'Can I trust you, slinger?' asked Jolm suddenly. 'Do I have your loyalty and discretion?'
    'Of course.'
    'Of course? Hah, you give such things freely, Rovann. Consider first what the question means. Think like a soldier who would fall on his own blade before breaking an oath. Then reply.'
    Chalos let out a shuddering breath. The voice, from behind that demoniac helm, was like a curse belched from the deepest rifts of the earth.
    'I suppose so, sir.'
    'Hah! Suppose is not the same as of course , now is it?'
    'No, it's not.'
    Jolm bellowed with laughter, his wide torso shaking. The Baldaw Mesh on his thick limbs slithered.
    'Do not be so grim, boy,' the Krune continued. 'I ask nothing of you that I would not also ask of your pretty friend, the Dread Spear. You are all my subjects until the Duke catches up with us.' He looked about again and then shook his head. 'This place... I had not expected this place. It is vast, that much I was ready for. A march through an enormous forest. But this... this is too complex. There is no one path that can accommodate us entire. Nor can we be sure that any of the these paths lead to the same place.'
    This much was obvious. The world ahead of them was a green lattice of trails, hills and crags, all coated with moss and then the trees which grew in a strange approximation of walls. The parallax of the place disoriented the healer. He had trouble telling how near or far things were in relation to another. Was that clump of bushes closer than that brackish