They came
for us only a few short hours after we made landfall, when the
sun reached its zenith above us. We had done our best to avoid
the numerous magical wards, traps, and sygils which crisscrossed
the outer edge of the island. Neither myself, nor Lord Sutton,
were mages however, and we must have tripped at least one of those
wards. More then once I wished that Lord Sutton's father was here
with us, he had dedicated himself to the study of magic, as the
son had not, and had become a very well known dragon mage. We
had complemented each other well in those days, myself with my
skill at arms, and himself with his magic. He was a dragon, with
all that entailed, but I was an elf, able to go places he could
not easily enter.
I digress
again, however. As I was writing, they came upon us when we were
only a tad more then halfway to the base of the plateau. We had
stuck to the ground, not willing to risk the relative ease with
which we would have been spotted had we been airborn. Lord Sutton
and I both did our best to cover our tracks, as well as one can
from a dragons passage. We had discussed him assuming his elven
form for this, but there were simply too many dangers which lingered
in this jungle for him to remain as such. We had already had to
battle a small group of lizard men, who had taken exceptional
offense at us being alive.
The first
that we knew something was wrong was when a shadow eclipsed the
sun. It was gone as quickly as it had come, but we both knew what
such a shadow could mean, and we moved all the more quickly. Only
a short few moments later sounds erupted from all sides of us,
as large shapes began to move through the relatively dense jungle
undergrowth. It was then that Lord Sutton ordered me to leave
him, to make my way to the crystal and find out what was happening
on this island, on Taltros. You may ask why I agreed to such a
plan, and I will tell you. I simply did not have any choice in
the matter. I argued against it, pleaded with him that I could
do more good standing by his side in this, but he would have nothing
of it. They had his scent now, and he would not easily shake them
again. He would lead them from me, and try to give me a clear
shot at the crystal, but I had to find out what was going on and
get word back to the Council, one way or the other. I still argued,
but in the end he took things in his own claws, almost literally.
Picking me up in one of those massive foreclaws he peered at me
intently as our pursuers moved in from all sides. Move quickly,
and watch your back, he told me, just before he threw me across
the twenty foot wide chasm which had been infront of us. I sailed
through the air, and, to my pride, landed easily on the other
side with a tumbling roll.
I had no choice
then, but to run, and try to make my way to the plateau. My last
sight of Lord Sutton was of him roaring a challenge, which sent
birds scattering from the nearby trees in great flocks. Then he
was lost to my sight as the jungle closed around me, but I heard
his roars and those of others for a long while afterwards. They
seemed to be heading away from me, towards the edge of the island
where we had first come from. Eventually even those stopped and
I was left alone with my own thoughts as I moved swiftly through
the trees and undergrowth, leaping streams as I came to them,
and finding ways around the occasional chasm in the land.
The truly
unusual things did not start until I had begun my climb up the
relatively lightly forested sides of the plateau.
-----------------
Laureine
had climbed a quarter of the way up the five hundred foot rise
to the top of the plateau when she finally allowed herself a small
break. Resting in the relative protection of an old copse of trees,
she sipped sparingly of the water she had brought with her. Keeping
a careful eye on her surroundings as she drank and rested her
weary body for a while. With a deep breath she prepared to move
out once more, stoppering the water flask and tucking it back
into her travel pack. It was then that she noticed movement from
slightly up the slope, towards where she was heading.
As she
watched in surprise she saw herself, walking up the slope towards
the top of the plateau, following the same path she had set for
herself. Even as she watched the figure, herself, her other self
seemed to stumble as she stepped between two huge old trees. As
Laureine watched in fascination her other self was impaled by
what appeared to be vines shooting from the tops of those trees.
Her other self screamed in agony from the dozens of razor tipped
vines which had speared through her body, convulsed once, and
then went limp, as the vines began to pull her upwards into the
tree tops. Halfway up the vines tore her body apart as each set
strove to pull her into its own tree top.
Swallowing
she very carefully made a wide arc around those trees, and kept
an eye out for any others which even remotely resembled them.
