Haplo felt himself released, hurled to the ground. He clasped his shoulder. The arm was dislocated, but it was still attached. Gritting his teeth against the pain, afraid to draw attention to himself, he lay on the moss, too weak to move, and watched.
The dragon spoke. Haplo couldn’t understand what it said, but he sensed the tytan’s rage seeping away, replaced by awe and fear. The dragon spoke again, tone imperative, and the tytan fled back into the jungle, its green, dappled body moving swiftly and silently, making it seem to the Patryn’s dazed eyes as if the trees themselves were running away.
Haplo rolled over, and blacked out.
CHAPTER 29
TREETOPS, EQUILAN
“ZIFNAB, YOU’RE BACK!” CRIED LENTHAN QUINDINIAR.
“I am?” said the old man, looking extremely startled.
Running out onto the porch, Lenthan grabbed Zifnab’s hand and shook it heartily. “And Paithan!” he said, catching sight of his son. “Blessed Orn! No one told me. Do your sisters know?”
“Yes, Guvnor. They know.” The elf gazed at his father in concern. “Have you been well, sir?”
“And you brought guests?” Lenthan switched his vague, shy smile to Roland and Rega. The one, nursing his injured cheek, nodded sullenly. The other, moving to stand near Paithan, clasped hold of his hand. The elf put his arm around her and the two stood together, staring at Lenthan defiantly.
“Oh, my,” murmured Lenthan, and began to pluck at the tails of his topcoat. “Oh, my.”
“Father, listen to the trumpet calls.” Paithan placed a hand on his father’s thin shoulder. “Terrible things are happening. Did you hear? Did Callie tell you?”
Lenthan glanced around, as if he would be very glad to change the subject, but Zifnab was staring off into the wilderness with a pensive frown. And there was a dwarf, crouched in a comer, chewing on bread and cheese that Paithan had gone into the kitchen to acquire. (It had become fairly obvious that no one intended inviting them in for luncheon.)
“I … believe your sister mentioned something-but the army has everything under control.”
“They don’t, Father. It’s impossible. I’ve seen these fiends! They destroyed the dwarven nation. Thillia is gone, Father! Gone! We’re not going to stop them. It’s like the old man said-doom and destruction.”
Lenthan squirmed, twisting his coattails into knots. He lowered his eyes to the wooden slats of the porch. Those, at least, were safe, weren’t going to spring any surprises on him.
“Father, are you listening?” Paithan gave his father a slight shake.
“What?” Lenthan blinked up at him, smiled anxiously. “Oh, yes. A fine adventure you’ve had. That’s very nice, dear boy. Very nice, indeed. But now why don’t you come in and talk to your sister. Tell Callie you’re home.”
“She’s knows I’m home!” Paithan exclaimed, frustrated. “She forbid me the house, Father. She insulted me and the woman who is going to be my wife! I will not enter that house again!”
“Oh, dear.” Lenthan looked from his son to the humans to the dwarf to the old man. “Oh, dear.”
“Look, Paithan,” said Roland, coming to stand beside the elf, “you’ve been home, you’ve seen your family. You did your best to warn them. What happens now isn’t any of your concern. We’ve got to hit the trail, if we’re going to clear out of here ahead of the tytans.”
“And where will you go?” demanded Zifnab, head snapping up, chin jutting forward.
“I don’t know!” Roland shrugged, glanced at the old man, irritated. “I’m not that familiar with this part of the world. Maybe the Fartherness Reaches. That’s to the est, isn’t it? Or Sinith Paragna-”
“The Farthemess Reaches have been destroyed, its people massacred,” stated Zifnab, eyes glittering beneath his white bushy brows. “You might elude the tytans for a time in the jungles of Sinith Paragna but eventually they would find you. And then what would you do, boy? Keep running? Run until you’re backed up against the Terinthian Ocean? Will you have time to build yourself a ship to cross the water? And even then it would be only a matter of time. Even then they will follow you.”
“Shut up, old man! Just shut up! Either that, or tell us how we’re going to get out of here!”