Ned forlornly nodded. "I understand, Leader Cadwaladr." He bowed and Fred clumsily followed suit. "May your stench be strong, and your color bright."
"And to you, Ned," Cadwaladr respectfully replied.
Ned clamped his hand down on Fred's shoulder and led them from the throne room. Hywel followed close behind, and when they were outside Ned clasped both hands on his staff and scowled. "What a nuisance," he muttered.
"I'm sorry for that, Ned," Hywel apologized. "I've never seen him so consumed by fighting the dwarves as he is now."
Ned shook his head. "It seems the stone has affected Cadwaladr beyond reason. It's a pity your legends are not passed down by the written word."
"Yes, it is a pity," Hywel agreed. "But why don't you two take a walk with me? I'm off duty now, and the fresh air will do you good."
Fred glanced around. Green mist floated all around them, and outside the walls he could hear the swamp burp more of its gas. Ned shook his head. "I thank you, but we must find that treasure."
"That's why a walk would do you good," Hywel insisted.
Ned glanced at his old friend with a raised eyebrow. "Will it? Well then, I suppose we had better get started. Lead the way, faithful guide."
Hywel guided them through the maze of towers and to the rear of the city. Fred noticed Stars zoomed out in front of them and zipped into the towers. They were the messengers of the leader, and their message transformed the friendly attitude of the Stars to one of cautiousness. Their cheerful whipping about was changed to a mad dash to keep out of the way of the human visitors.
Fred was glad when they left the towers behind and came to the back wall of the city. This was a park of sorts with a small drain pipe that drained swamp water into a circular pool. Weeping willows grew up from the stone streets and shaded the pool. Much to his horror, he saw several very large Dirth bugs, the creatures Ned had used in the halls of Galaron castle to knock out the guards. They crawled over the trees and lounged in the shallow pool. Now he understood how they were so noxiously disgusting, and was glad for his barrier mask.
Ned took a seat on a long, hollowed-out fallen log beneath one of the willows and looked to Hywel. "Are you sure you want to disobey Cadwaladr?" Ned asked their guide. "You could be banished with us."
"If the stone is as great a threat as you say it is, and I believe you, then I won't lose sleep over helping my people," he countered.
"Then you know where the treasure lays?" Ned wondered.
Hywel floated up and down to signify a nod. "Yes, you were standing underneath it in the throne room."
"We were?" Fred spoke up.
"Of course!" Ned exclaimed. He jumped up from the log and paced in front of the pond. "What better location to protect a treasure than the center of the city under the watch of the leader!"
"So what's this thing look like?" Fred asked him. He hadn't seen anything strange about the top of the Tower.
"Only Cadwaladr knows. No Stars are allowed at the top because of the treasure that is up there," Hywel told him.
Fred was ecstatic that the item would be so easy to retrieve. That meant they could leave the swamp with their noses intact. The only problem now was getting at the treasure that was forty feet above the ground, and without using magic. "Can you fly one of us up there?" Fred asked Hywel.
"There was a reason I had others help me lift the two of you over that six foot wall," Hywel replied. "And I may not be able to lift the treasure, either."
Fred's shoulders drooped. In his mind he said goodbye to their quick getaway. "Then how are we going to get up there?"
Ned glanced at Hywel with a raised brow, and Hywel's color darkened. "You're thinking what I think you're thinking, aren't you?" Ned smirked and nodded, and Hywel sighed. "Very well, but I can only produce enough dust for one of you."
"Fred will do nicely for the dusting. He weighs less than I do," Ned suggested.
Fred was confused. "Dusting? What dusting?"
Ned pulled at his beard, and his eyes had a glint of mischief in them. "You see, it's a little known fact that Stars are related to pixies-"
"First cousins twice-removed on our maternal side," Hywel added.
"-and they have a special dust that grants temporary flying abilities to the one who is dusted," Ned finished. "It takes several years to produce a good amount of dust, so the Stars use it very sparingly."
Fred slowly backed away from the pair. "So let me get this straight. You want to dust me and have me fly way up there to get the treasure?"
"Precisely," Ned agreed.
"And maybe break my neck if I fall?" he countered
"That wouldn't be advisable, but why don't we give it a try here?" Ned gestured to the semi-secluded part. "That way if you float off we can catch you."
"Float off?" Fred yelped.
Hywel flew up and whisked over Fred's head. Sprinkles of bright dust lights fell from its body, and fell into his hair and onto his face. Fred sneezed and Ned patted him on the back. "Now try a jump in the air."
Fred crouched and shook his head. He was staying on the firm ground. Hywel flew behind him and gave the boy a push. Fred jumped at the contact and found himself lifted into the air. The young man glanced between his feet and watched the ground move away. He flailed his arms about like a scared chicken who realized for the first time that maybe jumping off that barn roof wasn't a good idea. Ned caught onto Fred's foot and had a hard time speaking through his laughter. "Focus on where you want to go and try to fly over to it."
"That would be the ground!" Fred yelled back.
Hywel swooped in front of his face. "Quiet, or we'll be found out," he scolded the young man. Then he floated backward a yard. "Now when Ned lets go of your foot, you focus only on me, all right?" Fred gulped, but nodded his head. "Let him go, Ned. If this takes too long he'll run out of time." Ned released Fred, and the young man trained his eyes only on Hywel. Rather than springing up to the stars like before he instead floated toward the Star, and in a moment he wrapped his arms around Hywel and tried to control his breathing. The Star's warm body soothed some of his fears. "You're doing fine, Fred," Hywel comforted him.
Fred's eyes were lit up and a wide grin spread across his face. "This is amazing!" he cried out. He let go of Hywel and floated over to a nearby willow, where he caught a branch and stood in midair looking down on Ned. "How long can I do this?"
"Thirty minutes, which is just long enough to get you out of the swamp and over to the dwarf farmlands," Hywel told him. "I'll lead you, but you have to fly fast to out-pace the guards."
Fred's grin disappeared and his face lost its color. "How am I supposed to out-fly the guards? They've had more practice than me."
"Get far enough over the marsh and use your magic," Ned advised. "I'll wait for you with Fluffy at the fields, but I might need that special brush of yours." Fred dug in his pockets, found the cantankus brush and tossed it down to Ned. Ned pocketed it and smiled up at Hywel. "Keep good care of him, Hywel."
The Star floated up and down. "Will do, Ned."
CHAPTER 12
Ned vanished into the maze of towers, and Hywel turned to Fred. "We'll train for five minutes to give him a head start. Did you have any questions?"
"What happens when I don't have anything to focus on?" Fred wondered.
"Then you'll float up as you did at the beginning. The greater your momentum, the greater you shoot up into the air," Hywel replied. "Now with this treasure grabbing we're bound to be noticed rather quickly, so you might have to swoop down and grab it. Practice grabbing something small by picking up one of those beetles." He indicated the Dirth beetles.
Fred cringed. "Will they explode if I pick one up?"
Hywel chuckled. "A good chance, but no one will mind. You see, we Stars don't exactly have noses and the Dirth beetles are used to each other exploding. Now go on, we don't have much time."
Fred focused on the largest beetle. He let go of the tree and swooped down like a bird of prey with his fingers
outstretched. In one quick movement he snatched up the bug and snapped his head up to focus on a tree above himself. He tucked the bug under one arm and clamped onto one of the branches with his free hand. His stop was jerky, but successful, and he grinned at Hywel. "Wow, that's fast."
"Yes, you may yet outrun the guards, but don't get cocky," Hywel advised him. The Star turned toward the city center. "We've waited long enough. Set the bug down and follow me." Hywel flew high into the air, and Fred quickly followed without the bug. They went to sixty feet in the air before Hywel headed over the city. It only took a few seconds before they were spotted by the Stars below them, and a cry rang up from the guards. "Hurry along now!" Hywel encouraged Fred. They rushed forward and the Tower rose before them. The guards around the base sprang up as a swarm and flew toward the pair. "Evasive maneuvers!" Hywel yelled.
"What's that?" Fred yelped.
"It means dodge them! If they touch you they can take away your pixie magic and you'll fall!"
Fred's eyes widened, and his voice came out in a shrill, terrified squeak. "Now you tell me that?"
Hywel veered off to one side and caught the attention of half the swarm, but the other half still zoomed toward Fred. He focused on the smaller towers beneath him, and dove down with the guards close at his heels. The earth sharply rose up and the citizen Stars scrambled for cover as this large human fell down from the sky. At the last moment before he hit the top of one of the houses, Fred jerked his head up to the sky and performed a sharp arch back into the air. The Stars didn't expect the large human to be so maneuverable, nor turn up at the last second, and half of his pursuers didn't make the turn. They toppled into the countless holes of several of the towers and didn't pop out.
Meanwhile Hywel was having his own problems. His pursuers recognized him and ordered him to stop.
"What are you doing, Hywel?"
"Stop, Hywel!"
"What's going on, Hywel?"
Hywel glanced over himself, and back at his friends and relatives. "I'm trying to save your glowing hides!" he yelled back.
He made an abrupt stop and dropped beneath them. They flew over and Hywel redirected himself and his followers straight upward toward Fred, who couldn't shake the expert fliers that remained on his tail. Hywel aimed himself straight at Fred's followers, and those Stars so concentrated on their target they didn't see Hywel barrel into them from below. His own pursuers knocked into their fellow guards, and the whole group crashed as one to the ground below.
Hywel caught up to Fred. "Get to the Tower and let's get out of here!" Fred nodded and aimed his flight path to the square top. He could see a band of metal on the tip about an inch wide with rounded sides, and he focused his attention on that one spot. The top was thirty feet away when Fred heard Hywel yell at him. "Trouble!"
Fred glanced to their right and saw a new group of guards rise up out of the Tower. They were led by Cadwaladr, who was not happy to see Hywel nor to see his guards so thoroughly defeated by a single Star and human. It was a race to the top with both groups closing the distance in a heated tie. Fred willed himself to go faster so he could get the hell out of this pit of nasally despair. His hand wrapped around the square band just a second before their competitors reached the top, and he and Hywel used their momentum to fly out of the clutches of the guards and Leader.
With their head start Hywel directed them down into the swamps where he could easily outmaneuver their pursuers. Fred wasn't so lucky because he was larger, and he graced more than one tree branch with his forehead. His frequent head trauma slowed him down and the guards closed the gap. He glanced over his shoulder and saw the lead Star a foot from his feet. In a matter of seconds he would be touched and land in the muck beneath him.
Fred faced forward and frowned. He wasn't going to let that happen again, not if he and his clothes had anything to say about it. The sticks at his waist glowed. The oppressive smell of the marsh was weakening and his castor powers were growing. Fred grabbed his stick and it transformed into the staff. A tree in front of him threatened to rearrange his face, and he pointed the top of his staff at the plant while he focused on memories of Ned's fireball trick. A fireball like Ned's shot out and struck the branch, obliterating it with heat. With no interference he could keep his pace, but the guards were still catching. There was only one thing to do, so Fred shut his eyes.
Without a focus he shot straight up through the overhead branches and into the clear sky. His back cracked at the whipping motion that forced him upward, but the trick freed him from the pursuit. The guards and Leader couldn't stop that abruptly, and Fred opened his eyes to see them huddled in a circle and putting on the breaks. He pointed his staff down at them and shot off a blast of barrier magic. It wrapped around them in a dome shape and they pounded against the walls, but they were trapped and would remain so until Fred left their sight.
Hywel floated up beside Fred and whistled. "Nice casting," he complimented the young man.
A proud smile slowly spread across Fred's face. "It was, wasn't it?"
"Don't get cocky, young castor," Hywel scolded him. "We need to find Ned and do what we need to do with that treasure."
Fred looked at the band in his hand. It was square in shape, but not perfectly wrapped around itself. One corner had the start of the bent rod, and it looped in the square and the end stopped close to the beginning so there was only a one-inch gap from start to finish. It was solid and heavy. Fred had no idea how to use it, nor even what it was.
The pair flew off to the point where the marshland changed to drained farmland. They found Ned riding through the green fields around the edge of the marsh. His horse and Fluffy behind him traveled at a ridiculously fast speed that made their flying look slow. They just passed over the last of the scraggly trees when Fred felt something twinge inside of himself. He was twenty feet in the air, and his face drained of its color. "Um, Hywel, how long has it been since you gave me that dust?"
"Oh, about half an hour. Why?" Hywel asked him.
"Because I think it's-" Fred didn't get to finish before he dropped out of the sky like a heavy, fleshy rock. Fortunately Fluffy sped ahead and stood under him so Fred fell five feet less, but his stomach knocked hard against the firm dwarven saddle. He was still wheezing when Ned rode up and took the square from him. "A job well done, Fred. I couldn't have done it any better myself." Fred hoarsely gasped, and Ned shook his head. "No, no need to thank me for bringing Fluffy. He was glad to get out of there."
Fred was about ready to strangle his master when Hywel flew between them. "What do you make of that treasure? It looks like a normal bent rod."
Ned turned the treasure over in his hands. "It looks normal, but there may be something to it," he absently replied. Ned furrowed his brow and held out the square in both hands. He dropped it and the metal struck a rock that lay on the ground of all farm fields. A deep thud resounded through the air, and Ned smiled. "Each of these treasures resonates with the stone of its region. This one has a deep tune to destroy the stone." He picked it back up and examined it again. "It seems we have a four sided triangle instrument." Fred rolled his eyes. As if the world wasn't weird enough.
"So we need to have the stone hear that thud, and it will break? What then?" Hywel asked them.
"Then the stone will shatter, and Dirth and the City of the Stars will be safe," Ned assured him.
"So long as no one has touched the stone?" Hywel added. "Wouldn't that wake it up?"
Ned shrugged. "I'm not sure myself how the stones have become active, but so long as we can reach the base we can destroy it."
"So what are we waiting for?" Fred chimed in. He sat up in the saddle and coughed. "Let's get this done and get away from that smell."
Hywel chuckled. "It's very fortunate I don't have a nose for you're covered in marsh muck."
Fred glanced down at himself and groaned. His clothes were stained with bog from his fall. "Looks like I'll be taking that bath like Pat wanted."
Ned chuckled and
mounted his horse. "She'll be grateful," he pointed out.
They turned their steeds toward the town, but Hywel hesitated. "I won't be welcome there," he reminded them. "The Stars in there have been making a mess of the houses and not lighting the forges."
Ned opened his cloak. "Then you'll need to go into here."
Hywel shuddered. "Perhaps I'll risk it and say I'm your servant."
Ned laughed and closed his cloak. "A good plan." He spurred on his horse toward the town with Fred and Hywel on either side of him, and soon he turned to Fred with a curious expression. "How did you manage to escape the city and the Stars? It couldn't have been easy."
"We flew out of the city and into the bog. The trees were bothering me, so I shot fireballs at them, but that still didn't work because they kept catching so I flew up and surrounded them with barrier magic," Fred replied.
Ned raised an eyebrow. "A fireball? How very peculiar."
Fred froze. Ned saying something was peculiar was never a good sign. "What's peculiar about tossing out some fireballs?"
"Well, the fact that they're balls, and they're made of fire," Ned replied.
Fred blinked. "How's that special? Can't every castor do it?" he asked his master.
Ned leaned in and gave the young man a close scrutiny. "Each castor has their own unique ability. Any castor can create fire, but fireballs happen to be my specialty."
"Maybe I picked it up from being your apprentice?" Fred guessed.
Ned looked ahead and his mouth was set in a firm line. "Perhaps."
Ned quickened their speed and they raced toward the serene city. Inside the city was a different atmosphere.
CHAPTER 13
The other group was having their own troubles in Dirth. They passed through the farmland and arrived safely at one of the entrances to the city, where they found their way barred by a closed gate. Two dozen dwarves stood atop the defensive wall, and a tall one looked down at the newcomers with a sneer on his face. "Whadda ya be wanting here?" he called down to them.
The Unwilling Ambassador (Book 3) Page 8
