Orcs First Blood - Legion Of Thunder Part 34

He watched until the dragon became a dot, then disappeared alto-gether.

He sat for hours on his involuntary mountaintop retreat, brooding over events, regretting lives lost.

Having established that there was no possible way down, he took out the stars and contemplated them.

'Well met.'

He leapt up at the sound of the voice.

Serapheim stood before him.

Stryke was confounded. 'How did you get here? Were you another of Glozellan's pa.s.sengers?'

'No, my friend. How I got here isn't important. But I wanted to apologise for leading you into that trap set by the goblin slavers. It was not my intention.'

'It turned out right in the end. I have no hard feelings towards you.'

'I'm glad.'

Stryke sighed. 'Not that any of it matters much. Things seem to be falling apart faster than I can cope with. And now I've lost my band.'

'Not lost, merely mislaid.' He smiled. 'The important thing is that you do not despair. There is still much for you to do.

Now is not the time to surrender to defeatism. Have you ever heard the story of the boy and the sabre leopards?'

Now it was Stryke's turn to smile, albeit a little cynically. 'A story. Well, I suppose it's as good a way of pa.s.sing the time as any.'

'There was once a boy walking in the forest,' Serapheim began, 'when he came across a savage sabre leopard. The leopard saw the boy. The boy ran with the leopard in hot pursuit. Then the boy came to the edge of a cliff. There were vines trailing over the edge, so he lowered himself down them, leaving the beast growling impotently above. But then the boy looked down and saw another, equally hungry leopard below, waiting for him. He could neither go up nor go down. Next thing, the boy heard a scratching sound. He glanced up and saw two small mice, one white and one black, chewing through the vine he was holding on to. But he saw something else. Off to one side, almost out of reach, a wild strawberry was growing. Stretching as far as he could, the boy plucked the strawberry and popped it into his mouth.

And do you know something, Stryke? It was the sweetest, most delicious thing he'd ever tasted.'

'You know, I think I almost understand that. It reminds me of the sort of thing someone I know might have said ... in a dream.'

'Dreams are good. You should pay heed to them. You know, the magic energy flows a bit stronger in these parts. It could have some effect on those.' He nodded at the stars in Stryke's hand.'There's a connection?'

'Oh, yes.' Serapheim paused. 'Will you give them to me?'

Stryke was shocked. 'Like h.e.l.l I will.'

'There was a time when I could have taken them from you, with ease. And when I would have been inclined to do so.

But now it seems the G.o.ds want you to have them.'

Stryke glanced down at them. When he looked up again the human had gone. Impossibly.

He would have wondered at it, but now something else had claimed his awe.

The stars were singing to him.