The Echidna's Scale (Alchemy's Apprentice) by Jeffrey Quyle Read Free Book Online Page A

others with legs as well?” Barrel asked.
    “All of us,” Marco confirmed.
    “We will carry you a distance, and seek for others who may be able to take you further,” Brewe offered.
    “That worked before,” Marco answered.   “I am grateful for your help.”   He turned to the other two humans.  “The dolphins will carry us through the water as far as they can, then other dolphins will take their place and carry us further.
    “I’ve done this before,” Marco assured the other two, who had skeptical looks on their faces.
    The dolphins each provided assistance to one human, and soon the small group was flowing across the surface of the sea.  “The coverings on your bodies slow us down.  They make you heavier than you are,” one of the dolphins complained.
    “The little human insists on wearing these clothes,” Marco explained.
    “Does it think to hide how small it is?” Porenn’s dolphin asked.
    “It is a female, and wishes not to present its body for we males to view,” Marco tried to explain.
    The dolphins all came to a stop in the water, astonished by his story.
    “What’s happening?” Glaze asked.
    “It’s Porenn,” Marco said with a grin.  The girl looked at him in surprise.  “I told them we were wearing clothes because she wants to hide her body.”
    “Well, I have to!” she cried in protest.  “Tell them that my church instructs me not to let evil-minded boys look at me!”
    Marco spoke into the water.  “She is embarrassed, and very small.  Perhaps we should move on.”
    “Can you teach me to talk to them?” Glaze asked as they resumed motion.
    Marco told the dolphins what he was going to do, then provoked constant laughter as the dolphins listened to the woeful lesson he provided to both of his companions.  The dolphins very quickly insisted on correcting the mispronunciations themselves, and the group grew friendly as the journey proceeded.
    “We have gone further than we expected,” Barrel told Marco much later.  “We were having too much fun laughing with your friends.  We will call for others to come take you on.”
    There was an affectionate exchange just a few minutes later, and the lesson continued with the new dolphins, who carried them until night fall, when another set of dolphins took on the duties of transportation and education.
    Late at night though, the stars in the sky disappeared behind clouds.  Waves and wind picked up, and the dolphins’ voices began to take on a different tone.
    “Is there a problem?” Marco asked.
    “There will be a storm, and we cannot take you down to safety under the water,” his dolphin replied.
    “Is there a place with land where you could take us?” Marco asked.
    The dolphin hesitated to answer.
    “Is there?” Marco repeated.
    “There is a place, but I do not know that we may take you there,” the dolphin said slowly.
    “Do not worry; our safety upon the land is not your responsibility,” Marco tried to reassure the animal.
    “It is not your safety I am concerned about; I do not think you are allowed upon this land,” the dolphin answered.  “It is the island of the mermen.”
    The mermen!  Is it where Kreewhite lives?  I am his arnelli!” Marco said excitedly.  “He has helped me before.  He told me I could come to his village if my situation was desperate.”
    A large wave crashed upon all three pairs of travelers.
    “This is perhaps growing to be a desperate situation,” the dolphin spoke.
    “What’s happening, Marco?” Porenn asked, curious about the extended conversation that she and Glaze could not follow.
    “Just a second,” Marco put her off.
    “Can you take us to the mermen, and let me call for Kreewhite?” Marco suggested to the indecisive dolphin.
    “We can do that,” the dolphin agreed, and he started swimming towards the right, giving Marco time to explain to the others what was happening.  An hour later he slowed down, as rain started to fall.
    “We’re close.  You should