The Catastrophe of the Emerald Queen by LR Manley Read Free Book Online

big
helping with a chunk of meat and then putting it in his mouth. He
looked directly at Jared as he chewed slowly and then swallowed.
Jared didn’t hesitate any more but wolfed down the stew as fast as
he could.

Chapter
4
     
    Mordalayn rode slowly on the
large, black stallion with Jared behind him. After dinner the night
before they had told him to try and get some sleep. That had been
impossible and he’d lain awake wondering just what on Earth was
happening. Mordalayn had stayed up all night, prowling around the
small house and the outside grounds. As the sun came up the cat man
had come to fetch him. After a brief breakfast of bread and what
Jared thought might have been milk they had saddled the horse and
ridden off.
      The
horse trotted at a leisurely pace through a dusty path that wound
its way through lazily waving stalks of red grass. As they
approached the line of trees Jared glanced behind and saw Fellicone
in the distance, waving slowly. He raised his hand in reply and
then they were inside the wood, the sudden change in light
startling him.
     “ W here did the doorway take me ?” Jared wondered. “ Somewhere unusual ,”
he thought but he had no idea where. In the distance he could see
the sun, huge over the horizon, over twice as big as the sun he was
used to seeing. It was light green and orange, the clouds around it
a glorious display of reds, purples and oranges that changed every
minute as it rose higher in the sky.
      Mordalayn sensed the fear in
Jared. "It's all right boy. Don't be frightened. See the lake in
the distance through the trees? That's where we're
going .”
      As they rode along a
whispering voice suddenly said . “Master why are you here on this path?”
      Jared
jumped. The voice was like the wind whistling in the grass. It was
as if it wasn’t actually spoken but more inside his own head. He
looked around frantically as Mordalayn gently reigned the horse to
a stop.
     “ Good friend we are on our way
to Alegria. Two travellers, surely you can allow such innocents as
us to pass? .”
     “ Master
Mordalayn?” the whispering voice said again with curiosity. Jared
glanced around and to their left he saw that the leaves of a large
tree were twisting in the breeze. As he stared at it the leaves
rippled and formed, breaking into patterns to suggest there was a
face in there. The large lips and eyes formed and then dissapeared,
to reemerge in the next tree and then into a third. Finally the
voice spoke while the leafy face looked at them both.
     “ Oh,
master Mordalayn you are with a young friend. Pray, who is this
young boy?”
     “ This is master Jared, a very
important friend of the Emerald Queen” Mordalayn replied in a
friendly yet totally formal tone. “We are on our way to the palace
so he can help her in her time of trouble .”
      The face in the leaves
rippled, broke and reformed and the green lips appeared to smile. “Gooooood” the voice
whispered. “Master, you are always welcome in this wood. Please
tread carefully. Take only what you need from
it.”
     “ You are very kind my friend,
Our Lady will hear of y our
kindness to one who serves her. Have a good day.”
      The face seemed to
smile once more and with a
final flurry of the leaves and a whistle of wind the trees became
still.
      Mordalayn tugged the reins gently and they continued on the
path. “What was that?” Jared asked bewilidered.
     “ Forest guardians of the border
lands” Mordalayn said quietly. “They guard their own. They are
friendly enough if they like you .”
     “ And if
they don’t?” Jared asked.
     “ Then, well you’ve got a big
problem .” Mordalayn
replied.
      Jared
glanced to the left and saw the lake Mordalayn had referred to in
the distance. They rode in silence and then dismounted near a long
wooden fence. Mordalayn took their packs from the horse and then
slapped its rump. The horse bolted, headed back to the farm.
Jared’s feet got stuck in damp patch of