CHAPTER 26
Narma
Above the dreaded Dark Forest of Narma, the solitary purple whisk flew swiftly, though it's bat-like wings barely fluttered. What moved it through the air was not its wings. It's wide uncharacteristically red eyes swept the ground below, trailing the path of deadly destruction and powerful stench of lingering Evil that marked the deadly passage of Witch Greble. At least several days had passed since the Witch was here but there were still no signs of recovery by the normal plants and animals of the region. A few airborne Forest predators noticed the whisk but also noticed when they approached to eat it that it was not really a whisk, and wisely avoided it. They also didn't like being near the trail of death that the non-whisk followed.
This was the strongest trail of death and Evil leading away from the Portal, and Jewel had assumed that it marked Greble's passage when the Witch fled from Earth only a few days earlier after being strengthened by her Earth kills. Now the dragon disguised as a whisk was beginning to have serious doubts. Certain things didn't add up.
To begin with the trail of destruction and Evil she followed was far too great even for a powerful witch. The passage of any active witch of course brought death and destruction to everything encountered but not to the extreme that Jewel was witnessing. The usually lush purple-green forest trees and brush had been leached of all life and color to the point that only a dull brownish fifty-yard wide swath of rot remained. Jewel had never heard of a witch with such power!
But the oddly strong trail seemed to be losing its Evil intensity slightly as it got further from the Portal, instead of getting stronger. Had she been following the trail backwards? Could this trail have been made when the Witch came to Earth instead of when she left it? That seemed unlikely, the trail was still so strongly steeped in Evil, but what then was the explanation?
Something else was bothering the dragon even more: since returning to Narma she had sensed no Black Horde members! For the initial days following her return to Narma she had slowly followed the trail using extreme caution by assuming the form of various small inconspicuous but agonizingly slow ground creatures. As the days passed it became more apparent that the Horde was totally absent from Narma, and she assumed faster, more conspicuous forms, including finely that of a swift flying whisk that followed the Witch's trail of Evil hundreds of miles each day across Narma.
At the edge of the great forest she was even more surprised to sense a powerful presence within the ruins of a large nearby abandoned elf building. It had been centuries since she had sensed this sort of creature but there was no mistaking it. A second very unusual creature was also present. She glided down to perch before the odd pair atop the remains of what centuries earlier had been an elfin bookshelf, and stared at the two unusual individuals that had drawn her attention.
"Greetings Charm," said Jewel the whisk/dragon.
"Greetings, Black Dragon Jewel!" replied the unicorn. Its voice had a texture like tinkling bells that the dragon envied but could never quite duplicate. "I scryed your cautious approach these last days. It has been centuries since last we spoke. Now the great battle against Evil draws near, and we have much to discuss."
"And very little time, I fear," said the large green frog that sat next to the glowing white unicorn named Charm.
The frog-formed creature was in truth an elf mage, Jewel noticed. How very unusual!