CHAPTER THIRTEEN: Curly beards with pink bows.
Jude went into the main room of the house where a breakfast of cold meats and warm loaves was spread out on the wooden table. Ruby and Connor were tucking in heartily and playing a rhyming game. Branwell had just finished and was about to leave.
“I’m going to be with Thorgar all day. Can you three amuse yourself without getting into any trouble?” he said this looking closely at the Sprite, who returned him an innocent expression which was somewhat offset by having his cheeks full of bread. He looked as innocent as a hamster.
Branwell turned to leave and Jude followed him outside. He stopped him outside the door closing it so the others couldn’t hear what they were saying. Jude paused and felt awkward about what he wanted to say. Branwell waited looking at him. Most people would have asked if everything was okay to help start the conversation. He wasn’t sure if Branwell wanted to make things even more embarrassing for him or was just very patient. Eventually, not looking at Branwell, he said.
“You know Ruby spent the night with me?” He felt Branwell nod. “Well nothing happened, she was just cold, that’s all, it was totally innocent,” he said in a rush. “Nothing happened.”
“Are you sure?” Branwell asked shrewdly looking at him closely. Jude looked back at him. Did he know something? Jude wondered.
“Well actually, something did happen.” He was not going to believe him, he would just laugh at him. “In the morning, she wasn’t quite herself…she erm…”
“She was a dragon.” Branwell stated matter of factly.
“What. How did you know? Were you spying on us?” Jude asked bewildered.
“I knew as soon as I saw her she was a dragon.”
“How can you tell that?”
“I just saw it in her.”
“Why didn’t you tell her? You knew she had amnesia and didn’t know?”
“If I told you you weren’t all human and were part-elf, would you believe me?”
Jude laughed. “Of course not.”
“Question answered.” He turned to go leaving Jude staring after him feeling stunned, he thought he would be the one surprising Branwell. He returned inside to have some breakfast. He hoped the rest of the day would be a bit quieter, he’d had enough surprises and excitement for the day and he hadn’t even had breakfast yet.
Norin called in on them just as they were finishing breakfast and proudly offered to show them the wonders of the caves of Ninque Oron. They accepted gladly, they’d had to travel so quickly through the caves on the way to the city. They spent the day exploring the caves with Norin, like all dwarves, he was very knowledgeable about the caves and rock formations and what had caused them to be the way they were. He gave them a very comprehensive and informative tour of the caves. Jude found he just couldn’t take in all the information he was being given; it felt slightly like a school trip. Despite the wonders of the caves, he felt he might have started getting bored if it wasn’t for Ruby. They spent a lot of time pointing out different rock formations, deciding what they looked like and naming them. Connor had got bored quite quickly and relishing the opportunity to stretch his wings in the bigger caves flew about investigating, poking his fingers into any little hole he found. When he got bored of that he discovered echoes. He perfected his echoes in certain caves so he could hide quietly and when an unsuspecting Dwarf walked past would make him jump or at least give a gruff growl by causing an echo right behind him. Unfortunately he got bored with this too soon. When Jude saw a large chain mail clad Dwarf with perfect red curls and pink bows in his hair and beard, looking around furiously, he though he’d better find the Sprite and take get him back to the guest house.
They had another feast with the Dwarves to bid them farewell, they would be leaving first thing the next morning. Branwell wanted to get back to Aldea with messages from Thorgar as quickly as possible. As Jude bid Ruby goodnight and went to bed, he wondered if she’d feel cold in the night again. He noticed she taken another blanket up to bed with her. He lay in bed awake for a while listening for any light footsteps outside his door, but none came. He couldn’t keep awake any longer and fell asleep feeling slightly disappointed.
They left early the next morning with a large group of Dwarves including Thorgar seeing them off. Dwarf scouts had been out very early and had found no trace of any Orcs in the vicinity; hopefully they would get back to Aldea safely. They had seen many wondrous sights in the Dwarf Kingdom, but Jude was glad to be back in the daylight with the fresh air in his face. He could tell Ruby and Connor were too. Connor flew through the air sunning his wings. Ruby span around with her arms outstretched in the sunshine, kicking up spray from the stream. He smiled at her and she splashed him with water making him laugh he splashed her back.
“Well if there’s any Orcs around at least they’d think all this noise is a bunch of kids playing and not a group of adventures trying to thwart their plans to take over the country.” Branwell muttered to himself looking around. However the Dwarf scouts had been thorough and they did not come across any Orcs on their way back to the little train station they’d arrived at. When they were almost within sight of the train station Branwell hid his swords which he’d had at the ready in case of Orc attack. Connor grudgingly with much complaining was dressed in his children’s clothes. He took a lot of singing songs and rhymes from Ruby before he stopped grumbling. They got on the train and travelled back to the station in West Haven without incidence, apart from that which a mischievous and bored toddler could cause.
The train pulled into the West Haven station, it felt funny to be back home again, with all the familiar landmarks, after the adventures he’d had and the things he’d seen and experienced. But he felt safe back on familiar ground, it felt good to be home. He gave his Mum a quick ring to check everything was okay. She was obviously pleased to hear from him and he could hear the relief in her voice, when she commented that he sounded happy, he must be having a good time with his friends camping. Jude glanced over at Ruby and smiled to himself, yes he was having a good time. He did feel happy, which was quite funny really seeing as he’d nearly been killed a few times and had bumped into all sorts of monsters and creatures. Some more pleasant than others.
They got off the train and started to walk to Aldea, the light was starting to fade from the sky, the horizon turning orange. Connor skipping along happily, he knew he’d soon be back home in his beloved wood, playing with his friends. They were nearing the edge of the woods when Branwell suddenly froze waving to the others to stop and be quiet. He looked around suspiciously. They were so close to Aldea, there was no way they could be in danger from anything just on the edge of the wood. Branwell took the scroll from Thorgar and gave it to Connor, pulling off his coat freeing his wings he told him to fly as fast as he could into Aldea and straight to Taule, no stopping for anything or anyone and only to Taule. Connor looked around too a little disconcerted, but was only too glad to be having his wings free and the opportunity to use them. He flew into the air in a sparkle of fluttering wings; he sailed over the tops of the treetops. Suddenly a black arrow soared up towards Connor, it narrowly missed him, but the Sprite had seen it and nearly dropped out of the sky with the shock, and then increased his speed heading for the cover of the trees. Two more arrows followed this one closely, coming from some cover to the side of them. The Sprite managed to narrowly avoid one of the arrows but the other one hit him. He gave a surprised cry of pain and fell like a stone from the sky into the trees.
Branwell was the first to react racing towards where it looked like Connor had fallen. Jude and Ruby both gave cries of alarm and headed after him. But Branwell hadn’t gone far when a group of Orcs appeared out of the gloom in between them and where the Sprite had been hit. Branwell halted and drew his swords.
“Stay behind me,” he called back to Jude and Ruby calmly, never taking his eyes from the group of Orcs closing in on them. Jude drew Ruby closer to him and stood in front of her, he wished he had a weapon. Looking bac
k afterwards he didn’t know why he was protecting her, chivalry possibly, she could turn into a fire-breathing dragon and had already rescued him twice. Branwell in front of them did a couple of practice swings with his swords, moving them in complicated archs through the air before him. The Orcs approached cautiously, brandishing heavy clubs and ugly looking swords, and sneering and pulling faces at them. Branwell was unfazed by it all and just patiently waited for them to come within range. At last the first row of four Orcs ran together towards him, brutal weapons raised, howling their battle cries. Branwell was unmoved, he spun round coat swirling, silently repeating the complicated movements he’d done earlier and the Orc howling was cut off abruptly. Branwell returned to his earlier posture and his coat skirts became still. He returned to looking at the slightly smaller group of Orcs who were sneering with not quite as much confidence as previously. Jude was feeling confident in Branwell’s skill with the sword, he would be able to beat this group easily and they’d soon be back in Aldea, hopefully Connor wouldn’t be too badly hurt and the Elven medicine would be able to fix him up good as new in no time. He was feeling confident. Branwell continued to wait for the Orcs to make their next move. From behind the Orcs the gloom seemed to concentrate on one spot and out stepped a tall dark figure. Jude noticed Branwell’s swords lower slightly. As the figure came closer Jude recognised the long black hair, pale skin and haughty expression of Edrea, she had one hand extended and was holding something in it. Jude glanced back to Branwell, he was not feeling quite so confident about this fight now. He had beaten her the once but not with a gang of Orcs too. The Orcs parted to allow Edrea through. Jude could see a black ball in her hand; he had a bad feeling about it.
“You should have killed me when you had the chance,” she sneered at Branwell. “Instead you did something foolish which made you vulnerable, you allowed me into your mind.”
“You’re as beautiful as night descending on the twilight. I can still feel your lips on mine.”
We’re doomed thought Jude reaching out to make sure Ruby was still close behind him.
“Ha, ha.” She placed the black ball on the ground and murmured some words over it, the surface started to wriggle as if it was alive. Then it broke apart into hundreds of tiny black bits and started to scurry frantically towards Branwell. Spiders. Hundreds of them. He felt his calm begin to leave him, to be replaced by spikes of fear, dulling his thoughts. Branwell took a step backwards. He was beginning to feel the white bonds around him, trapping him so he couldn’t move. He started to swipe at them with his swords when they came within range, but it was useless against so many. He dropped his swords and tried to stamp on them but they swarmed up his legs, he tried to brush them off with his hands, but it was useless. Jude looked on in horror as the spiders swarmed all over him. He started backing away with Ruby, but unnoticed by them the Orcs had come around behind them. Ruby screamed as an Orc grabbed her, Jude tried to lash out at the Orc but another had got hold of him from behind. He hit out with his fists and feet, but he was hit over the head with something and sagged at the knees, falling to the ground. The last thing he saw was Branwell curled up in a ball on the floor, wriggling and screaming, covered in spiders. Edrea was stood over him her head on one side and a satisfied smile on her face. Then everything went black.