The Voyage of The Jerle Shannara - 1 - Ilse Witch by Brooks Terry

Author:Brooks, Terry [Terry, Brooks,]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2010-10-24T05:10:14.639000+00:00

EIGHTEEN

Bek Rowe woke the following morning to sunshine and blue

skies and no sign of Quentin Leah. He took a moment to

orient himself, decided he was still in Arborlon, and jumped

out of bed to dress. When he checked the adjoining bedrooms, he

found that Panax was missing as well. A quick glance out the

window revealed the sun at midmorning height, a clear indicator of

how late he had slept. There was grain cereal, cheese, and milk on

the table in the anteroom, and he wolfed them down hungrily be-

fore charging out the door in search of his friends.

He was running so fast and so hard he ran right into the black-

cloaked figure coming in.

"Walker!" he gasped in shock and embarrassment, and jumped

back quickly.

"Good morning, Bek Rowe," the Druid said formally. A faint

smile played at the corners of his mouth. "Did you sleep well?"

"Too well," Bek answered, chagrined. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to

be such a layabout—"

"Please, young traveler, don't be so anxious to apologize."

Walker was chuckling softly now. He put his big hand on Bek's

shoulder. "You haven't missed anything. Nor have you neglected

any obligations. You were right to sleep. That was a long journey up

to Depo Bent and then west to here. I would rather have you rested

when we set out from here."

Bek sighed. "I guess I just assumed that since Quentin and Panax

are already up and gone I was lagging in some way."

Walker shook his head. "I passed the Highlander on my way

here. He had just gotten up. Panax rose a little earlier, but he doesn't

sleep much. Don't think on it again. Did you eat?"

Bek nodded.

"Then you're ready to go out to the airfield and have a look

around. Come with me."

They left the sleeping quarters and walked through the palace

grounds, moving away from the city and out toward the south end

of the Carolan. They passed any number of Elven Hunters and Home

Guard on the way, but few regular citizens. No one paid them any

attention. It was quieter where they walked than in the main sec-

tions of the city, less traveled by those who lived and worked there.

On the backside of the Gardens of Life, they passed a pair of Black

Watch guarding one of the entrances. The pair stood as if fro-

zen, towering over everyone in their sleek black uniforms and tall

hats, everything smooth and clean and trimmed in red. Within the

gardens, birds darted and sang, and butterflies flitted from bush to

bush, as bright as the flowers they touched upon, but the Black

Watch might have been carved from stone.

Somewhere deep in the center of those gardens was the leg-

endary Ellcrys. Even Bek, who had traveled so little, knew her story.

The Elicrys was a tree imbued with magic that formed a Forbidding

to shut away the demons banished by the Word from the Faerie

world centuries ago at the beginning of life. She had begun her life

as an Elf, a member of an order called Chosen, and had transformed

into the tree as a result of exposure to the Bloodfire. So long as she

remained strong and healthy in her changed state, her magic would

keep the Forbidding in place.

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