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Chapter 11

     Diranth came back when he said he would. As he entered the clearing he glanced around with a wave of relief. We hadn’t run off. Weather or not he decided then to trust us I don’t know.
     He carried two packs in his hand and two bows on his back. He gave us one of each. The bows were of the same make as those from the town.
     “I assumed you were familiar with this weapon.” Explained Diranth.
     “We are,” answered Danny, setting his aside to look in the pack. Inside he found a cloak and a blanket and some bread. I picked up the bow and studied it. It was a good lightweight longbow, but I still felt it didn’t surpass my old one.
     Mistaking the sorrowful look on my face Diranth said, “I could instruct you in its use if you need it.”
     I looked up at him startled. “I know how to shoot a bow!” I told him, hurt.
     “Do you have arrows to go with them?” Diranth gave a mocking smile then reached to his back and produced two quivers full. I took one and examined an arrow. They too were of the make that I had seen in the town. They were lightweight and strong. I was pleased. I looked up at Diranth, returning his mocking smile.
     “Do you doubt my ability brother?” He studied the smug look on my face and answered, “No sister, I do not doubt you.”
    
    
     “Hey my dagger!” exclaimed Danny, sighting his dagger in Diranth’s belt.
    Diranth removed it and looked it over thoughtfully. “This looks almost Draven in make. Where did you get it?”
     “I-I found it in the woods, they thought it was evil. I knew it wasn’t. I tired to hide it but they found it and that’s why I’m in this mess.” He shrugged and stared at his dagger longingly. Diranth reluctantly handed it to him hilt first. It was as if Diranth didn’t want to part with such a dagger, either that or he didn’t want to trust Danny with a short rage weapon. I couldn’t be sure but I felt it was the second one since I knew it wasn’t Draven in make (whatever that was), it was made in Tansana.
     Danny placed it in his belt, after a few practice swings to be sure it was still in good balance. You could see by his swings that this was the weapon he was good at using. Feeling the reassuring presence of his dagger at his hip, Danny must have felt much safer being around Diranth then before.
    
    
     We packed up the supplies and the rest of the deer meat, which had been smoking over the low fire since we ate our meal. Diranth carried the food in his own bag and Danny and I each carried what we were given. Diranth lead the way east, explaining that our mother was in a valley between the next two mountains, westward at the conjunction of the mountain ranges.
     We walked all the rest of that day, that is to say, Danny walked. My brother and I floated a foot off the ground, Diranth in front and me parting the trees before us. As we traveled I tired to start up a conversation with Diranth.
     “You’re an air mage,” I stated.
     “I am, and you are an earth mage are you not?”
     “I am,” I confirmed.
     “You are a weak one though,” he said, “It was very difficult for me to find you.”
     “I am not weak.” I said irritated, “Just because you couldn’t find me doesn’t mean anything. The town’s people have been onto me for a while. I had to stop using it. I guess it didn’t stop them though.” I looked at Danny hoping he had caught onto my lie. He had. He cast me a worried look. Luckily Diranth didn’t catch it; he even let my lie slide, even though I’m sure he knew it wasn’t the truth.
     “I am glad you used it in the end, I would never have found you otherwise.”
     I looked away. Those few simple spells must have been like a flashing signal, telling him where I was. If I hadn’t used them then I would be dead, but what good is my being alive if the one person I was to stay away from has caught me? I wondered if Illiquith had known that my follower was my own brother. Then I wondered why my brother wanted to find me so badly. I decided to find out.
     “I could feel you searching for me,” I admitted, “There was a great urgency behind it. Why?”
     “You are my sister,” He said as if that was all there was to it. I knew it was not.
     “I know, but why did you only try to find me now?” I pressed. He stopped and sighed.
     “I did not know you existed. When I was 12, I noticed that there was something out there that I knew, something, somewhere far away…” His voice dyed off a bit. After awhile he continued, “I asked mother about it. She told me about you, about how she had to leave you behind. She was crying. I wanted to find you right away, to bring you back to mother, but she told me I was not ready. When I asked her when I would be ready, she said she would tell me. Finally, years later, she told me I could go find you. So I came.” He gave me a smile. “I just wish that we could have met under better circumstances.”
     I agreed.
    
     We traveled many kilometers during what was left of the day. We could have traveled further if Danny hadn’t been with us as his walking slowed us down. He saw this and tried his best to walk quickly but the ground was rocky and uneven. I parted the trees branches but the trees roots stuck out of the ground making the way difficult for Danny. Finally we broke out of the trees onto a road. The light, though fading as it was nearing the end of the day, was bright compared to the shadows of the tall trees we had been walking under. On the other side of the road the mountainside fell so sharply that it just about created a cliff, off of which, were one to fall, one would surely die. Far below I could see the same vale we had found the dragon cave in. I wondered if the Dragon Keeper knew what befell his beautiful Sarith.
     Diranth paused at tree line, and seemed to debate weather or not to travel upon the road. But it led in the correct direction and Danny would be able to walk it easier and therefore faster.
     Seeing the sky, Diranth decided that we should make camp back from the road, in the woods. It was a little uncomfortable, as Diranth would not allow us to light a fire and the trees, which grew close together, were covered with sap. Finally I got the chance to ask what had been on my mind all day. The story behind my abandonment.
    
    
     “Long ago our Mother lived married to our Father in the kingdom of magic. She was a fire mage and he was an air mage. Both born to noble families, they were strong in power. Together, they discovered a way to increase a mage’s power. They sought to educate the people, to teach them to be stronger then they were. But the people resisted, termed them and their new way evil.
     They were told to stop, to live weak like everyone else, but they refused. Sadly, the law in the kingdom said they must die for refusing. They fled, their newfound strength helping them to escape. They fled over the mountains called Ascending Heights (the very mountains we are on right now), for they feared the true evil that lay behind the Iron Walls, but they were perused. Mother was heavy with child at the time, you sister, and had to pause in her fleeing so that she could give birth. But their stop allowed the pursuers to gain on them and they had to continue on. They left you behind in that town as not to be given away by cries in the night and so that you could live even if they did not. Mother did not want to leave you, but she vowed that she would have you back. Soon you will be returned to her.”
     “What happened to Father?”
     “They were forced to flee over the Statues Peaks. Surprisingly they were safe in those evil lands, but after a year, Father fell to a wasting sickness. He died while I was yet in mother’s womb.”
    
     The next day we traveled the road. Diranth seemed uneasy. He was constantly looking behind or stopping to listen. He didn’t tell us what it was he feared, but his attitude was catching. Danny and I spoke only in whispers, or not at all and we found ourselves looking over our shoulders as well. A few hours later our cautious travel paid off.