Tales of Alterra, the World that Is: Book 01 - Elfhunter by C. S. Marks

Author:C. S. Marks
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Fantasy, young adult, Adventure, Elves, epic fantasy
Publisher: Parthian Press
Published: 2012-11-24T06:00:00+00:00

It was three days since the Company had divided, and as Rogond, Fima, Belegund, and Gaelen arrived at the mountain gate, the others were making their way slowly toward the pass known as the Iolari, or "Way of Eagles". This was a steep and winding path between two very tall peaks to the west, which dropped down into the foothills and the valley beyond, wherein could be found the great lake known as the Linnefionn. The Elven-realm of Tal-sithian was located on an island in the midst of that lake.

There would still be snow in the upper elevations of the mountains, but with any luck the path would be mostly clear now, as the Iolari was considerably farther south than the High Pass they had attempted to take into Mountain-home earlier. Summer was approaching, and that meant there would be many swift, churning streams of snow-melt. Immersion in them would freeze the life from man or Elf in a few minutes. The other hazards of traversing the mountains lay in those inhabitants that lurked below ground during the daylight hours. Ulcas and Trolls were known to take the unwary, but they did not occur in large numbers due to the vigilance of the dwarves, whose realm was so vast that it easily encompassed the entire area beneath the pass.

One source of difficulty had come (not unexpectedly) from Eros. He was unhappy at being separated from Rogond and demonstrated this by stubbornly refusing to follow Thorndil, pulling and tugging at his long line and generally making matters difficult. Thorndil knew Eros well, but had not been treated to the complete demonstration of his displeasure before. It was difficult enough negotiating the tricky footing without being pulled off balance by over a thousand pounds of reluctant animal, and Thorndil’s tolerance was wearing thin. Handing the two horses he was leading to Nelwyn, Galador dropped in behind them, and when Eros lagged and tried to pull Thorndil off balance, Galador drove Réalta forward, bowling into Eros from behind and startling him into leaping forward.

Eros shook his head at Galador and lashed his tail, daring the Elf to repeat that maneuver! In reply, Galador rode up beside him and swung a coil of rope at his hindquarters, slapping him with it. Réalta neatly dodged both of Eros’ hind feet as the big dun lashed out at the irritating Galador, who then had the unbridled temerity to laugh at him.

"Get along, now, Eros, and stop your playing! You cannot follow Rogond; you must await him on the western side of the mountains. I shall tan your backside if you do not behave!" To reinforce this point, he slapped Eros again with the rope. "Go ON, now! Don’t try my patience." If Eros could have grumbled, he would have done so. As it was he sulked along, plotting his next opportunity to escape and return to Rogond.

"You have my thanks, Galador, for setting him upon the straight path. I thought he was going to pull me over once or twice.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.